The Prince's Rebirth
by Exile Wrath
Summary: When the Dictator is defeated, Prince is no more. 3 weeks later, Lan is yanked out of her depression by Yang Ming, and she makes a new avatar to to claim her rightful place with Odd Squad and as Ruler of Infinite City, with some new friends to help her. Problem is? 1. Her new avatar is female 2. her new friends are insane 3. a certain professor is hunting for his Prince.
1. Chapter Zero

**Exile: Hihi ^_^ This is my first 1/2 Prince fic! Spoilers up to chapter 50. Contains OCs and semi-AU**

**Pairings: Lan x Gui, OC x OC (2 times)**

**Warning: An author that loves gaming and writing. And making OCs (don't worry, no Sues guaranteed!)**

Prince's Rebirth

Chapter Zero- Prologue

_Prince/Feng Xiao Lan_

"Dictator of Life!" I roared, pointing my Black Dao at him. "This is the end!"Charging him, I let my thoughts return to the happy times I had as Prince. As my weapon pierced his shoulder, the Dictator gave me… _A relieved expression? Wha- Why?_ My mind panicked. Immediately, my thoughts flew out of my head as I was replaced with the Blood Elf. Narrowing my eyes, I whispered softly, "Goodbye, Dictator of Life."

"_ND Program Activate!_"

* * *

"Goodbye, Prince." Lolidragon whispered, silent tears rolling down her cheeks as the great shockwave of energy passed through the Infinite Army. All of a sudden, the birds stopped chirping, the breeze stopped blowing, and the trees stopped rustling. The NPCs and mobs stopped moving and the sky turned dark. The players dropped their weapons.

_Player: Prince has successfully defeated Dictator of Life. All players leave to Central Continent for reprogramming to begin. _Was what the stars read. Gui felt his legs go weak and he dropped to the ground.

"PRINCE! I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU!" the bard desperately yelled into the starry sky. As if on cue, several stars flickered, as if Prince was waving a sad goodbye.

* * *

"Goodbye, Prince." I whimpered as I took off the Second Life helmet. I stared at the electronic machine with empty eyes, an overwhelming feeling of loss enveloping me. It was over.

I couldn't run around with Odd Squad and Wicked and Nan Gong Zui and Western Wind and my friends, hacking monsters with them at my side.

I couldn't punch Gui or hear his praises to "his most lovely highness". The one I liked.

I couldn't laugh and joke with Lolidragon, and reminisce about the newbie days. We couldn't have private, sister-like talks.

I couldn't go see Wolf-dage and get precious words of advice from he who had been like a mentor to me.

I couldn't run from Yulian-dasăo's moneymaking schemes and hug her kind, older-sister presence or tease her about Wolf-dage.

I couldn't play with Doll or Meatbun for that matter. I couldn't have fun running around with her and having small eating contests. The one who was like a little sister to me.

"Why am I not crying?" I asked myself, confused. Then I shrugged. "Hey, at least I don't need to deal with crazy fangirls, or the scary moneymaking schemes, or my fanclub, or worry about my gender-bender dilemma, or…" While trying to think of other positive things about having no Prince, my brother flung the door open, a worried look in his eyes. "Oh, hi Wu Qing- I mean Yang Ming." Out of the blue, I remembered.

Prince was dead.

"Sis! Sis! It'll be alright…" my little brother tried to comfort me as I wept. "It'll be alright…" I just continued crying my heart out, and I faintly sensed my parents joining the consoling huddle.

"Good-bye Prince." I said for one last time. "I'll miss you."

* * *

_Three weeks later- Feng Wu Qing/ Feng Yang Ming_

"Sis?" I yelled at her bedroom door. No answer. "Sis!" I was getting worried now.

Don't get me wrong. She's my sister, how could I not worry about her? Not to mention she lost pretty much her second life – no pun intended – so she was different from the usual annoying older sis these days.

After the Dictator had been defeated, Second Life shut down for a week to purge the HD virus. Some select players (such as Odd Squad and the other admins of Infinite City) had been chosen to have talks with the NPCs and self-aware bosses during this week. An agreement had been reached:

-NPCs with self-awareness would remain as is, and would be treated like normal players with normal accounts, minus the fact they couldn't log off. Sunshine, Kenshin, and MEATBUN (yes, Meatbun!) had been given personal accounts with the others.

- The Dictator of Life was back, but since he had been reprogrammed of the virus he was no longer considered a malevolent factor, and had been involved in the discussions.

-The ND virus was also gone, but some of the NPCs – oops, I mean N-players – proposed something surprising. Even though Prince's character data had been deleted, his gear was still there, due to Lolidragon's forcing the higher-ups to rewrite at least Prince's gear into the game. The Dictator actually suggested that Prince's sword have the ND program in case something happened once again. Our side willingly complied, not out of fear of another NPC uprising, but because it would be like a legacy, a relic of he who stopped the NPC uprising with the ND virus.

- What are N-players, you ask? N-players are the NPCs with self-awareness that have been given new accounts, obviously. N-players stands for NPC players, as contradictory as it sounds.

Back to real life, my sister had gone into a depression. She was a shut-in and hardly came out of her room but to eat and go to the restroom. She also barely said a word, except "Please", "Pass the food", "Thank you", and "Sorry". She hadn't gone to school the whole time, too, and I suspect that it's because if she saw Professor Min she would break down. I didn't blame her. But seriously; no one in the family cooks as well as her, so our stomachs are suffering.

I went to school, turning around look at her window with her curtains closed. Shaking my head, I boarded the bus.

Even though it seemed everything was fine, in Second Life, nothing was. Even though players still fought mobs, ran dungeons with N-players, and overall had a good time, everyone knew that life wasn't the same without the Blood Elf Prince. Lolidragon often ran around, eyes glazed over and a sorrowful expression on her face. Ugly Wolf and Yulian turned to each other for comfort. I had seen them crying together over old memories. Doll sometimes wandered around the castle with Meatbun on her head, looking for "Prince-gege". It nearly broke my heart to see them. Prince was like the heart of Odd Squad.

The worst case was Gui. He hadn't showed up to school for an entire week, throwing himself into the peace talks and surrounding himself with work, anything to stop remembering my sis. He had been on 24/7 during the time, except to eat in real life. Also, he (with the help of Yun) had constructed a barrier around Prince's chambers; if anyone other than close friends of Prince dared try to walk in, they'd automatically be sent to the rebirth point by the "Thousand Trap Shield". And as far as I know, Gui had stolen a few of sister's pillows to sleep in-game. Scent-fetish pervert.

No one is the same. Nothing had been unaffected (except the mobs and NPCs). We all miss Prince. Okay, well, his in-game presence for me. It was sort of weird for me to not see my genderbent sister running around. _Darnit! She's rubbed off on me! My poor IQ!_

School passed by like a tortoise plodding away ever so slowly. "Student Yang Ming, please stay here." Professor Min called once the bell rang to end the day. With a sigh, I turned on my heel and strode back in.

"Yes, Professor?"

"What happened to your sister, Feng Lan? She's been missing for 3 weeks." he remarked, eyebrows furrowed. I moaned.

"She's having a rough time these days." I said vaguely. "She's really sick, and can't come to school for a while." the professor's eyes widened and he nodded.

"Very well then. Tell her to get well and I'll see you online, Wu Qing." _I won't, because hearing from any of you will make her situation worse._ I thought grimly.

_Second Life_

"ARGH! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" I howled in frustration, flipping over a table in my anger. "What is wrong with you people?" Everyone around me stopped and froze. There was Lolidragon, Gui, Wolf, Yulian, Wicked, Doll, Meatbun, Kenshin, Sunshine, Fairsky…basically all the people that had been close to my sister.

"What's wrong, Wu Qing?" Wicked asked in alarm. I usually didn't throw fits like this unless I was drunk, but this time I was pissed.

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?" I yelled. "What do you mean? Is it "Mope Because Prince Isn't Here" day? Do you really think that he would want you guys to mope because of him? It's been three weeks!" All of a sudden, the sadness in the air changed into something akin to … murderous intent. Gui was the first to speak.

"What do you mean by that? DO YOU REALIZE HOW HARD IT IS TO FORGET A PERSON LIKE…LIKE PRINCE?" he screamed.

"Then just FIND HIM AGAIN!" I bellowed back, shooting lightning glares at the damn bard. I was sick of all this depression!

"How?" Lolidragon's voice floated from behind me as I felt the tip of a dagger poke my back.

Freezing in fear at the terrifying atmosphere that was directed at me, I stammered, "The gear! We could organize a contest for each piece, and whoever claims all five pieces will be recognized as "Prince"!"

Lolidragon paused. "One second… let's talk."

_Real Life – 4 days later_

"Sis! Open up!" I yelled, standing in front of her bedroom and holding a brown bag. No reply, and then the door ominously creaked open, revealing a haggard person that hardly resembled my sister; she looked like a ghost.

"What?" she rasped, staring at me with hollow eyes. I shoved the door pen, ignoring her indignant gasp. "Hey!" I dumped the bag on her messy bed and turned to look at her.

"This bag." I stated, pointing at it, "contains a game helmet and Second Life cartridge." she immediately cringed at the words, but I forged on. This was the only way to help everyone. "Second Life has announced a contest based on Prince. When you "died" they managed to recover your gear. Now, for THREE goddamned weeks, everyone has been moping around because you aren't there. So Lolidragon and I came up with an idea."

"Each of the 5 pieces of your gear has been changed into an item set – the Inferno Dao, the Genbu Armor, the Poseidon Gauntlets, the Zephyr Greaves, and the Bloody Tiara are pieces of the Blood Elf Prince set. Each piece has been left with one of the Overlords, and the Bloody Tiara is with Odd Squad. The contest is basically this: each player has to go through a series of trials under each Overlord in order to gain the item. Whoever gets the whole set will be recognized as the "true Prince"."

"Over the last 3 days, players have been trying to go through these tasks, but every one of them have failed miserably. Sis, Second Life is in havoc now. It's your duty as Prince to go in and fix it again!" I stared at her, watching the battle of emotions that were being clearly displayed on her face. Finally, she let out a resigned sigh.

"I'll think about it." She said. I left her room with a triumphant smile. "Don't bother to look for me! We'll meet when I come for my crown!" My smile turned into a huge grin as I ran into my bedroom to share the news with everyone on Second Life.

_Second Life_

"He's coming." I reported. Everyone had some sort of reaction, so varied they were that I could've made "An Encyclopedia of Expressions" from them. Gui was the first to speak.

"What is his new ID?"

"Prince said, "Don't bother to look for me! We'll meet when I come for my crown!" He doesn't want us to help him. I think he wants to have the same level playing field as everyone else." At this, Lolidragon gulped. "What's wrong?"

"Ehem. Do you guys know what Vocaloid is?" she asked, ignoring my question. Most people shook their heads. "The company is having a second event, based on this popular software called Vocaloid. It's a voice synthesizer that was first released around 95 years ago, but it's still really popular. I'm surprised you guys haven't heard of it. Anyways, the Vocaloids are voicebanks, records of sung syllables which users use to string into words, then phrases, and then songs. There's around 500 of them, and the ones from 95 years ago are still in use, because they keep on being remade."

"Your point?" Wicked asked curiously, "What does this have to do with Prince?"

"The event is that new players that join Second Life over the next twelve hours have a 1/100 chance to be able to choose a Vocaloid as their character. If someone gets a Vocaloid as their character, they are incredibly strong, strong enough that at Level 80 they could probably easily defeat a Level 97 mob."

"So basically Prince could possibly get a huge head start on other players, thus ruining his wish?" Sunshine asked. Lolidragon nodded slowly. "Well, either way, I think that no matter what, even if he doesn't get this head start, he will come back to us in the end. All we need to do is waiting and praying."

* * *

_Feng Xiao Lan_

I stared at the game helmet with hesitation. Even though I would be starting with a clean slate, no one in Odd Squad would recognize me. Every time I would try to get my rightful gear back, I would be doubted. _Even now, Prince still comes back to haunt me. _I thought grimly. _Even though I have a near-zero chance of being recognized, I'll go in, for the sake of my friends._

When I put on the game helmet and drifted off to sleep, a sense of nostalgia washed over me as I stared around the dark character-making area. In a flash, a GM appeared above me. _Total eye candy!_ My inner fangirl squealed. Blushing, I shook off the thought, "Welcome, player-san, to Second Life. This is probably your first time playing, so please give us a moment to scan your body and record your vocal frequency. That you will be able to immediately enter the game once you put the game helmet on." Like lest time, I waited for the scanning to be complete.

But before he could run off the race and realism spiel, "I've played before. My character was one of the ones destroyed by the HD virus." his mouth promptly shut before he gave me a slightly grateful look. _It must be painful to keep on having to say the same words over and over again._

"Then please make your choice." he said softly. With a flash, the surroundings were filled with the different races. It didn't matter; I already knew what I wanted to be.

"I'd like to be an elf, please. 10% beautification, black hair with silver highlights." he snapped his fingers and in front of me appeared an elf that looked like Prince with different hair color and build. She wasn't pretty enough to turn heads, but she had a calm air of simplicity that would make any guys that's been around her for a while fall in love. "Okay! This is good!"

"What do you want your name to be, player-san?" the GM asked. _Player-san? This guy must be Japanese, based on the honorific. But name! Darnit, I nearly forgot! I want a name that's androgynous, but it isn't too plain. _

" Do you have any suggestions?" I questioned. He raised an eyebrow, "I want something that isn't too cool or too plain. Or too weird, either."

The guy frowned and stared at my avatar and I for a few moments. "How about Zero? I think that you seem to be a very determined person that's on a mission; you won't let anything or anyone stop you."

I thought for a moment. _It fits, and not to mention the zero-chance-of-recognition problem. _"Zero it is!" I declared. A look of relief appeared on the bishounen's face. "Is anything wrong?"

"No, It's nothing. It's just that now I can go make my own character now! The company said that when I'm done doing 500 characters, I can go do mine. I've always wanted to play, but this was repayment for the game helmet." he said cheerfully. "And you were the 500th person! I'm relieved, because all the other girls were really, really picky about their looks! But you've only taken 5 minutes!" I winced, remembering my own 2-hour character-creation time. "Anyway, enjoy Second Life again, player-san! Oh, wait, what continent do you want to be born?"

My eyes widened fractionally. "Do you know who holds the Inferno Sword?" the guy's jaw dropped. "I intend to become the reborn Prince." After an awkward silence, he began quietly chuckling. "Hey!"

"That's it! I like you, player-san! You really are set on a goal!" he said sweetly. "The Sword is on the Eastern continent, with the Smiling Overlord, Winter Triumph. I'm assuming that's where you want to be?"

"Yes, please!" I shouted, saluting. He laughed again. _This guy is really kind._ I thought gratefully. _Any other GM would've started making fun of me instead._

"Okay! Well, my character's name will be Fai Blaze! PM when you start looking for a team, Zero-san!" when he finished talking, my avatar opened her eyes and lunged towards me. "See you!"

* * *

**Exile: Review?**


	2. The Rebirth of a Legend

**Exile: 16 reviews? Thank you so much, all of you.**

**I own only the OCs and the plotbunny! 1/2 Prince belongs to Yu Wo~**

* * *

Prince's Rebirth

Chapter 1

The moment my eyes opened, I sat up to examine the landscape. From what I remembered, the Eastern Continent was more based on ancient Asia. The Northern Continent was a landlocked place of ice and snow, the Southern was a hot, stormy desert, the West was based on ancient Europe, and Central was the standard game landscape. A fish leisurely swam passed me as I looked around in confusion.

I was at the edge of a river full of dangerous-looking fish that often leapt up in and out of the river, opening and closing their mouths full of extremely sharp teeth. I jumped up and scrambled away from the riverbank. _Why do I feel that these are much more dangerous than the man-eating slimes?_ I thought. _I guess that each continent has a different type of newbie place. I should probably check up on my stats before something bad happens._

"System!" I declared loudly, and standard screen promptly popped up in the corner of my left eye.

(Name: Zero | Gender: Female | Level: 1 | Race: Elf | Class: None | Reputation: 0 | Health: 60 | Mana: 20 | Unspent skill points: 0 | Strength: 10)

_Thank God, it looks like I'm still going to able to be a warrior with that base strength of 10._

(Physique: 6 | Agility: 8 |Intelligence: 6 | Willpower: 7 | Wisdom: 5)

_Wait one second! I'm slower now, but wiser? And for some reason I have 4 skill points more than I'm supposed to?_

(Luck: Unknown | Abilities: None)

"I guess that people killed by the HD virus get some sort of apologetic skill point bonus?" I pondered aloud. "Either way, it looks like my stats are pretty good for a level 1."

I opened my inventory, pulling out my newbie pouch and equipping the pair of provided pants (+1 defense) and a thin shirt (+2 defense), as well as the shameful, tiny knife with 1 attack power. _It's even smaller than the one last time…this is only 10 centimeters! It doesn't even deserve to be called a knife! All, well, as long as it's sharp. _However, when I tried to cut a blade of grass with the tiny butter knife, it didn't cut through it. Touching the blade, I realized that not only was the knife ridiculously small, it wasn't even sharp!

_Grrr…does Second Life not want Prince to come back?_ I yelled inside my head, throwing the knife away from me. At the same moment, a fish soared out of the water and the knife hit it, knocking it to the other side of the creek.

(Attack successful, Flying Fish HP -5)

_Oops. Looks like no matter what, I'm still a natural! _But before I could leap across the river and put the fish out of its misery, the fish lifted itself up from the ground and spread its fins, which now I looked closer, looked like… wings?

"He-e-elp!" I cried, a literal flying fish chasing me around. I jumped over the creek and grabbed my knife, putting it between the fish and me.

(Attack successful, Flying Fish HP – 10)

Stepping backwards, I switched the knife to my left hand and raised my right hand, uppercutting the bottom of the fish's jaw.

(Attack successful, Flying Fish – 5)

(Flying Fish has died, Zero's experience has increased to 10/20, Zero has learned a new ability – Precise Cut)

(Zero has learned new ability – Fatal Aiming)

_Yes! Black Dao, you'll be back in my hands in no time! _I cheered. _These are just fish with wings; they're nothing for someone with as much experience as me!_ I once again threw my knife across the stream, but this time instead of waiting for the fish to rise up and attack, I leapt over, pulled out my knife and mercilessly turned it into fish filet, ready to eat.

(Critical hit successful, Flying Fish HP – 20)

(Flying Fish has died, Zero's experience has increased to 20/20, Zero has reached Level 2, Zero has learned a new skill – Immediate Death)

_Immediate Death? _I realized. "System!" I immediately arranged my skill points first, then stepped back to look at the abilities.

(Name: Zero | Gender: Female | Level: 2 | Race: Elf | Class: None | Reputation: 0 | Health: 70 | Mana: 20 | Unspent skill points: 0 | Strength: 11 | Physique: 7 | Agility: 9 |Intelligence: 6 | Willpower: 7 | Wisdom: 5)

(Luck: Unknown | Abilities: Precise Cut – Ability Level 1, cause attack power + 10 when attacking enemy vital points (must be equipped with bladed weapon) / Fatal Aiming – Ability Level 1, cause throw-type attacks to have + 10% chance of hitting target / Immediate Death, Ability Level 1, 2% of dealing (enemy level x 20) damage)

Looking at my new abilities and my stats, a smile crept up on my face as I stared at the river full of flying fish. _Fish filets…here I come! _Once again, I threw my measly knife…

(Attack successful…attack successful… attack successful…)

(Zero has learned new ability: Attack Succession)

_It sounds like the usual "Continuous Attack". Whatever, I'll look at it later!_

"Die, fishies! You are going to become my food!" I roared, hacking at the swarm that was now chasing me. _One second, maybe I can save some money and eat these fish instead of those bland mantous!_

(Zero has reached Level 3…4…5…6…)

_Ah, there's no more fishies left._ I thought regretfully, looking at the now-empty river. Then I looked at the riverbanks and began running around to collect the loot before it disappeared, as well as the fish carcasses. _I wonder what flying fish tastes like?_

I scrambled around, looting a little more than a hundred coppers from the dead winged fishes, as well as some trash loot. I equipped a ring with attack power +3, a bracelet with +3 defense, a new shirt with + 2 magical defense, and a much better knife with 7 attack power. "I should be at least Level 10 by now." I muttered to myself. "System!"

(Name: Zero | Gender: Female | Level: 10 | Race: Elf | Class: None | Reputation: 0 | Health: 70 | Mana: 20 | Unspent skill points: 21 | Strength: 11 | Physique: 7 | Agility: 9 |Intelligence: 6 | Willpower: 7 | Wisdom: 5)

(Luck: Unknown | Abilities: Precise Cut – Ability Level 3, cause attack power +30 when attacking enemy vital points / Fatal Aiming – Ability Level 2, cause throw-type attacks to have + 12% chance of hitting target / Immediate Death, Ability Level 1, 2% of dealing (enemy level x 20) damage / Attack Succession – Ability Level 2, +5% damage for every successful continuous hit, attack up to 4 times)

_These new abilities…I think that Second Life must have added some new ones to the list. Either that or the continents also affect the skills learned. After all, some classes are exclusive to only certain continents…_

Lying on the grass, I looked at my stats again, and after some thought, rearranged my skill points so it looked like this:

(Name: Zero | Gender: Female | Level: 10 | Race: Elf | Class: None | Reputation: 0 | Health: 110 | Mana: 20 | Unspent skill points: 0 | Strength: 21 | Physique: 11 | Agility: 13 |Intelligence: 6 | Willpower: 7 | Wisdom: 5)

* * *

_The fact that I'm not a warrior anymore is ticking me off! Time to go accept that stupid quest! _I leapt to my feet, closed the system window, and dashed to the newbie village, long hair flowing out behind me. _*Sigh* I miss having short, white hair that wouldn't get tangled on me…all well_.

Being able to walk in the main gate and not turning into a human steak was probably the best feeling ever _*Sob*_ no more fangirls! Glancing at my reflection in the mirror, I allowed myself a small smile, looking at the tall, black-haired elf that was staring back at me. Two silver highlights framed my face, making me stand out from the crowd of exotically-haired beauties. My bust wasn't that big, but it wasn't an A-cup anymore! _*sob* _When I went to the armorer to sell my trash loot, I looked at the masquerade masks and inwardly chuckled. _Won't need those anymore!_

"BISHIIIIIE!" a high-pitched voice squealed. My mind shut down as my instincts activated, and I once again ran into the village pharmacy, scrambling behind the door to peer out at the streets. _Old habits die hard. _I thought ruefully when I reactivated my normal brain and walked out. At the western gate was a large horde of squealing elven girls, and I made sure to go out of my way to avoid them. When I got to the warrior – class NPC, he looked at me with astonishment.

"A female being a warrior is uncommon, but a female elf becoming a warrior is even more unheard of!" he commented with a puzzled expression. "Are you sure you don't intend to be a mage, little one?"

I shook my head adamantly, "No, I know perfectly well that you are the warrior NPC. I would like the quest." One dialogue box later, I was jogging towards the gate. Instead of getting 10 wolf fangs, I was supposed to go get 10 snake fangs from Snake Cave. _A lot of things sure do vary from continent to continent…_

"Zero-san!" a familiar voice gasped, grabbing my elbow. Instincts once again kicked in as I spun around and planted a fist in the speaker's stomach. "Ow!"

(Player Zero has attacked Player Fai Blaze, HP – 30)

I stared down apologetically at the GM that had made my character. "Fai? I'm sorry!" On the ground in the alley laid a redheaded guy with a black streak in his hair. He was taller than me, had a slender build, and eyes as equally red as his hair. _I guess he's the one that started the fangirl switches to activate earlier._ I realized, reaching out a hand to pull him up. "Are you okay?" He stood up, brushing off the dust.

"I'm fine. Why did you punch me?" I winced while he started gulping a health potion.

"Immediate reaction." I explained. An awkward silence ensued. _At least he's not like Lolidragon. By now she would have me in a headlock *sweat*_

"You're strong. What level and class are you?" he asked finally. "I'm a Level 12 rogue."

"What's a rogue?" I questioned. "And I'm Level 10, I'm on my way to do the warrior quest."

"Well, that explains your strength." He muttered. "Rogues are a class exclusive to Eastern Continent. We are physically stranger than thieves, but our agility is a bit lower. Also, we can use short swords and daggers, and some long-swords, like katana. We also have a lot of other weird weapons. They were going to name the class "Ninja", but…."

"Oh." _What? He started after me and he's a higher level? _I raged. _This guy is insane!_ "What should I call you, Fai or Blaze?" I inquired in order to stop myself from pummeling him in envy.

He paused and thought for a moment. "Just Fai is fine. Anyway, since you need to do the class quest, want me to come along? The Snake Cave if actually pretty hard to solo, because they respawn really fast and drop from out of nowhere." He advised. I shrugged.

"Don't worry about me. Snakes are nothing. It's not like they have wings!" At this, Fai made a weird face. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." He reassured. "You'll just see when we get there."

The trip to the Snake Cave took an hour, although it was mostly my fault. I had become knife-happy lately, mostly because of the fish, and we continually got into battles. On the way, I actually leveled up another time!

(Zero has learned new ability: Sword-Happy, Zero has reached Level 11)

Fai just looked at me weirdly.

"You really do fight weird." He remarked. "Your movements are so wild and exaggerated." I just gave him a glare that said "Shut up". We had finally arrived at the Snake Cave, which now that I think about it, should be "Winged Snake Cave" instead!

_Is it just me, or do all the monsters that I've encountered so far have wings? _I ranted. _First those stupid fish, then the weird birds on the way, and now these messed- up Winged Snakes! _I hacked through a Winged Snake, a grim expression on my face.

(Attack successful, Winged Snake HP – 20)

But right before I could slice it in half, a blade appeared out of nowhere and pierced the snake's skull, going through one eye and out the other. The snake was jerked up off the ground, dangled by the string attached to Fai's kunai. He gave me an apologetic smile, but behind it, I saw an evilly cackling face. _Talk about revenge. He's kill-stealing as punishment for punching his stomach earlier! That XXX!_

Fai and I had set up a strategy when I discovered that the snakes had bat-like, leathery wings. We would both get rid of all the snakes at the entrance first, and then he would camp on top of the entrance boulder and use his stringed kunai to lure snakes that were farther in the cave. All I had to do was wait for them to come closer and hack them to pieces, but this was the 13th kill that the darn guy had stolen! If you're wondering how in the world he managed to take thirteen…

"Charge!" I roared a few minutes earlier. Fai just snorted and right before I could deal the first blow, what appeared to be a bomb dropped right in front of me, exploding in the mouth of the cave as 10 snakes announced that they were going to nirvana. Apparently, he had a Level 7 ability, Bombs, which allowed him to make different types of bombs and use them against the enemy. So far…I had been "lucky" enough to witness firsthand the effects of 3 of them: Poison Bomb, Smokescreen Bomb, and Explosion Bomb. _I hope there's no "Nuclear Bomb". _I prayed.

"Would you stop kill stealing, Fai?" I snapped after the 5th snake. The darn rogue nodded, then stabbed and reeled another snake towards me. It seemed that his vengeful heart was now content; I finally was able to kill the snake.

(Zero has obtained quest item: Snake Fang x1)

We settled into a nice pace, and every now and then snakes would respawn and surround me, but it seemed that Fai had numerous stringed kunai, enough to cover my back while I hacked 7 snakes in front of me to pieces. _Ooh, it seems that I'll be able to eat fish filet with snake meat! _I drooled at the thought of such a delicious combination. "Fai, can you collect some snake meat?" I begged. "I'm too busy killing." He gave me an odd expression.

"Why?" I guess that he doesn't like talking a lot, like Kenshin.

"Because _mantous_ suck, and I already have some fish filets from when I fought the Winged Fish earlier. Snake meat and fish are definitely going to taste better than _mantou_!" I explained, cleaving a snake in half. Fai looked thoughtfully at the carcasses, then grabbed a dozen of them and started skinning them. "You really don't like talking, huh?"

"…No, it's just I'm trying to rearrange my inventory at the same time." He said shortly. I looked behind me with disbelief, and sure enough, his inventory screen was open in front of him while he skinned snakes! I shook my head with a sigh.

"Fai, I'm out of snakes." I complained a little bit later. The GM gave me an exasperated expression, and then threw a kunai to the farthest, darkest reaches of the cavern. "Wait, never mind. I already have all my snake fangs."

Giving me a peeved look, "Say something like that earlier!" he hopped of the boulder that had been his seat and started following me away from the cave. Before we could reach the forest first, a loud rumbling filled the air. I spun around, and stared disbelievingly as the cave started shaking, rocks falling everywhere. "Zero, duck!" I ducked right as a rock shot where my head had just been. Fai was up in a tall tree already. _No wonder he's a ninja! He got up there fast! _He reached a hand down and helped me up as I plopped myself on the thick tree branch and stood up, sword in hand and ready for whatever was coming next.

In the depths of the cave, two green lights shone. I stared at them, mesmerized as a giant yellow snake came out. It was at least 25 meters long, and its body was as thick as the giant boulder that had been Fai's seat. "Is this the Snake boss mob?" I whispered. Fai nodded rapidly, reminding me of a bobblehead.

"Yeah…shoot, I think that it's angry. Run!" the guy leapt from his place beside me and suddenly appeared on another tree a few meters away. The boss saw him and rose up from the ground, spreading huge wings the sent up huge clouds of dust.

"Fai, attack its eyes! The eyes!" I screamed uselessly, leaping down from the tree and hacking away at the snake's tough skin, trying to distract it. Unfortunately, Fai didn't hear me, and I heard a sickening crunch as he was bitten on the torso. "Darnit!" I cursed, leaping on the snake's back, looking for the vulnerable spot in its scales, the 7th inch.

(Player Fai HP – 50)

"Explosion Bomb!" Fai yelled as 3 bombs appeared in his hands and he threw them at the boss, all of them landing in the mouth. The moment he landed on the ground, he pulled out a health potion and started gulping it down frantically.

(Attack successful, Winged Snake King HP- 100)

At the same moment, I plunged my sword into the base of the giant skull, all the way to the hilt. Blood spurted out, coating me in the warm, sticky red liquid. A smile involuntarily formed on my face.

(Attack successful, Winged Snake King HP- 200)

_How is this thing not dead yet? _I raged. "Nine-headed Dragon Strike!" I declared, remembering my old move from when I was Prince. My blade moved impossibly fast, and separated the skull from the rest of the body. Miraculously, it succeeded.

(Nine-headed Dragon Strike successful, Winged Snake King HP- 300. Winged Snake King has died. Zero has reached Level 13; Fai Blaze has reached Level 14. Zero has learned new ability: Nine-Headed Dragon Strike; Fai Blaze has learned new ability: Quick Bombing)

Exhausted, I collapsed to the ground as the snake disintegrated into loot. Fai just stood there, looking at me incredulously. "What's wrong, Fai?" I asked, eyes half-lidded and basking in the sun, still covered in blood. Fai blinked rapidly several times.

"…If it's you, I believe you'll be able to become Prince." he muttered. The sentence didn't escape my sharp elf hearing.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to hide my grin. _No matter the avatar, I'm still the Blood Elf! But now I'm Blood Elf Zero, not Blood Elf Prince *sigh*_

"One of the tests in order to claim the Black Inferno Dao is to be able to execute several of Prince's signature moves. Nine-Headed Dragon Strike is reputedly the hardest to master. Also…that smile was just like the Blood Elf Prince. Except…" he cracked a small grin, "instead, you'll be the Blood Elf Zero." he stared at me for a few more moments, then ran around picking up the loot and putting it into the party inventory. I smirked.

"Boy or girl, I am me!" I whispered. "Prince or Zero… I'm still ME!" Fai stopped picking up coins and shook his head resignedly.

"I hope that Zero-san does manage to make it." he muttered. "Or else I'm definitely stringing her up and hanging her on the wall of Infinite City."

* * *

"What's this?" I asked, hefting up the egg that Fai had given me. It had elaborate flame designs around it, and there were decorative circles spiraling along the top and bottom. It was very beautiful, but Fai was looking at it with disgust.

"I don't like pets. And besides, you'll need this to become the reborn Prince." he said tersely, glaring at the poor, innocent egg. I cradled it, glaring back at him.

"How can you say that? It's such a pretty egg!" I protested. Fai just shook his head.

"It's the egg of a Firebun pet." he explained. My brow furrowed.

"What's a Firebun pet?" Fai just face palmed.

"Quit asking me questions! Just hatch it already!" he roared angrily. I shrunk back at the loud volume.

"Geez, man. Fine." I snorted, biting my forefinger and dripping blood on the egg. It glowed briefly, and then a crack appeared in the middle. When the light faded, my jaw dropped and Fai winced. "What is this?"

On the table in front of me was possibly the weirdest creature in existence- a doughy, round shape with two tiny folded- up flaming wings that one would normally find on a phoenix. The dough slowly turned around, but instead of two sparkling eyes that were usually associated with my Meatbun, there were two flames! "It's called a Firebun pet, offspring of Prince's pet, Meatbun, and its wife, Fire Phoenix." Fai explained bluntly. My jaw dropped to the ground even more.

_HOW IN THE WORLD WERE THOSE TWO ABLE TO MAKE CHILDREN? _I screamed in my head. _WHAT THE HECK?_

* * *

A few minutes later, I logged off and woke up. Sunlight filtered into my room, and all of a sudden, my bedroom door was rudely kicked open. Yang Ming's eyes lit up at the sight of the gaming helmet in my hand. "Sis?, were you playing?" he asked excitedly. Seeing him so happy, I had no choice but to slowly nod. His eyes grew wide, "What level are you?"

"Level 14." I said grumpily. Yang Ming immediately sped out of my room, probably to tell everyone else. Thank God that today was Saturday…I didn't want to go to school yet. My head bowed as I recalled the times I had beaten up Gui, the time when we first met….shoot, I'm going to start crying. I quickly switched my train of thought to Fai, the former GM. He seemed really odd, almost like Yulian-dasao and Lolidragon together. I shuddered. He was scary.

_Note to self: never piss off Fai._

And my question was…_since when was a meatbun and a phoenix able to do XXX and have children?_

* * *

**Exile: ****And by the way, she still isn't officially a warrior yet. Also, I'm using the original novel as the base for the format of writing out out all the stats. If you want to read an English translation of the novel, check out princerevolution (.) com!**

**_Mantous_ are dumplings that have no filling. They're bland.**

**Gamer terms in case you don't know them:**

**Kill-steal: When another player kills something you were about to kill and claims the XP and whatever loot. They are annoying.**

**Review?**


	3. A Kind and Wicked Demon

**Exile: Thank you to everyone who reviews and alerts and faves this fic! It makes my day, reading all these reviews. **

**Challenge: (1) figure out which manga character's hair Fai's hair is similar to. (hint: Manga) **

**(2) Vocaloid _ sang the song _ _ (two words) which Kurotenshi got her player name from. (Fill in the blanks)**

**(3) What does yew wood represent, and why do you think that a demon priest likes using it? (Answer: Yew represents _ (Fill in the blank)**

**First person that PMs me with the right answers will get a sneak peek of the next chapter! (About 2000 words) **

The Prince's Rebirth

A Kind and Wicked Demon

"Finally out of the newbie area!" I exclaimed happily, relieved. Fai gave me a glance and shook his head resignedly. Firebun flapped next to me, pausing every now and then to scorch nearby monsters.

(Name: Zero | Gender: Female | Level: 22 | Race: Elf | Class: Warrior | Reputation: 0 | Health: 210 | Mana: 60 | Unspent skill points: 0 | Strength: 30 | Physique: 21 | Agility: 25 |Intelligence: 12 | Willpower: 7 | Wisdom: 5 | Luck: 100 | Abilities: ?)

(Pet owner: Zero | Pet name: Firebun | Level: 15 | Health: 150 | Mana: 45 | Unspent skill points: 0 | Strength: 10 | Physique: 15 | Agility: 10 | Intelligence: 11 | Willpower: 7 | Wisdom: 10)

_WAAAAH… my pet is still smarter than me? And it's wiser? It's not faaaaaaair…_

(Abilities: Scorching Flame – Ability Level 5, offensive ability, will use up 10 mana, causes up to 50 Fire damage / Aroma Release – Ability Level 7, can attract mobs, will use up 30 mana, lasts 20 minutes, range is 70 meters / Fire Wings – Ability Level 4, passive, allows for +50% movement speed / Bun Bomb – Ability Level 6, must be in Explosive state, uses up to 40 mana, deals up to 75 damage)

Bun Bomb was Fai's fault. I blame him.

Firebun was exactly like Meatbun in the way that it loved eating meat buns. One day however, when Fai was busy building up his arsenal of bombs, Firebun mistook the bombs for meat buns – how it managed that I have no idea. But either way, Fai and I unfortunately discovered that Firebun liked to eat his explosive bombs.

"Where do you intend to go, Zero?" Fai asked me. We were both Level 22, as I had accidentally gotten him killed twice…the first time was when Firebun at the bombs and I thought it was going to die, and the second time was when he tried to save me from falling over a cliff. Either way, both times had ended badly for him. _But after that, he kept on kill-stealing from me! He actually had the gall to do that! _I ranted in my head. "Hello? Zero?" Fai asked, waving his hand in front of my face to get my attention.

(Name: Fai Blaze | Gender: Male | Level: 22 | Race: Elf | Class: Rogue | Reputation: 0 | Health: 250 | Mana: 20 | Unspent skill points: 0 | Strength: 20 | Physique: 25 | Agility: 35 |Intelligence: 15 | Willpower: 9 | Wisdom: 8 | Luck: 95 | Abilities: ?)

"What is it?" I said snappishly, irritated with Fai's continual kill-stealing. For two days already, I had barely been able to kill anything; I was extremely ticked off! _I want to send him back to the rebirth point! But then he'll keep on kill-stealing! Waaaaah, this isn't fair at all!_

"Where should we go now?" he asked again. I thought for a moment.

"Green Dragon City?" I suggested. "It's a good place to start." Fai shrugged.

"Sure. But first, let's focus on recruiting party members first, okay?" he said amicably. "We'll save a lot of money if we have a priest instead of having to use health potions." A dark smile appeared on his face. "Right?"

"Sure, sure!" I replied hastily. Fai, I had discovered, was a cheapskate. Not as bad as Yulian-dasao, but bad enough to be annoying. "Maybe we'll find one in the city?" he shrugged.

"Hopefully." _Great. First skinning his snakes and organizing his inventory, and now walking to Green Dragon City, stopping me from getting lost, and making bombs AT THE SAME TIME? This guy is…argh, such an XXX!_

Green Dragon City, like the rest of Eastern Continent, was highly stylized after ancient Asia, although each city was based off a different country. White Tiger City was based on China, Red Phoenix City was based on Japan, Black Tortoise City was based off of India. What about Green Dragon? Well…

"Fai, what country is this supposed to be?" I asked, dumbfounded. We were standing at the city gates, and so far the place reminded me more of France than any place in Asia. The former GM gave me a cross look.

"Isn't it obvious?" he snorted, "It's based off of Vietnam, _baka._" Fai's Chinese was pretty good, but he still tended to cuss at me in Japanese, a habit which I wanted to kill him for.

_Hey, Fai, I've read enough old comics that I know who Kenshin is based off of; so that means I know that you just called me an idiot! So shut up! _I ranted. I really wanted to cleave that guy in half and send him to the rebirth point for all the times he had ticked me off, but this guy was literally a ninja! And he doesn't care that I'm a woman, so he actually dared to hang me upside down from a tree once while he killed all the monsters in the area, by himself. It pained me to see someone fighting and not be a part of it; so I'm starting to suspect that he knows something about me being Prince… all well, food is first priority! "What do you recommend to eat?" I asked, staring at the food stalls hungrily.

The redhead shrugged. "I don't know. I'm Japanese, not Vietnamese! How should I know?" he glared at me, and I glared back. _And here I used to think he was a gentleman!_

"If you want good Vietnamese food and you're new, get phở." Someone remarked behind us. I spun around to see a girl of the demonic race, holding a bowl of steaming hot noodles and chicken soup.

"What's that?" Fai asked, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth. The girl's mouth dropped open.

"It's the best food in existence!" she exclaimed, taking a bite. "Mu mo mwat? Ollow 'e an' ll mreat you woo."

Having had experience with talking with my mouth full, I translated for Fai, "She said "You know what? Follow me and I'll treat you two." Let's follow!" the rogue looked back and forth at our party moneybag and the steaming bowl of irresistible-smelling food. Finally, he gave in to his appetite. _So he IS human! I thought he was an N-player! Wait, N-players can't be GMs…never mind!_

Following the girl through the thick crowd, I thanked the gods – ah, the Dictator of Life - for sending this girl to lead me to good food. We reached a small food stall and the girl plopped herself at a table and waved at a waiter. "Two more bowls of phở, please!" she called. Fai and I took a seat at the same table.

"What's your name?" Fai asked, "I'm Fai Blaze and she's Zero." The girl regarded us with a weird look in her eyes.

"My name is Black Angel." She introduced. "And just so you know, I'm not Vietnamese. I only know the food because I've been to Vietnam before." With that, she went back to eating. I couldn't help but glue my eyes to the delicious bowl in front of her. Fai's eyes were also slightly glazed over. We had been eating nothing but _mantous_, snake meat, and fish filets for the past two weeks, and eating any one type of food for more than a week is enough to make a person sick of eating it. _*sigh* I miss my roasted meat._ I contemplated.

Eventually, the waiter came back to our table and placed two steaming hot bowls of noodles in front of us. I promptly snatched up my bamboo chopsticks and gingerly took a bite of noodles and a sip of soup. Fai did so at the same time.

_AAAAAH…THIS IS SO ASFAFTADSADELICIOUS! _I thought. The moment my tongue had touched the food, I had gone to heaven. It was that delicious._ This is on par with the wontons in chili oil! _

"This…is so good." Fai complimented between bites, concentrating on eating his food before it grew cold. I too, started gobbling up the phở, and when someone tapped my shoulder, I unsheathed my sword, ready to kill whoever dared interrupt my meal.

"Customers, here is the bill." The waiter from earlier said politely. "And it seems that your friend has disappeared." Fai and I looked at where Black Angel had been and our eyes widened. The polite grin of the waiter's face shrunk. "One moment, what was that person's name?" he demanded.

"Black Angel." Fai informed. The waiter turned pale and then dashed off, opening up his inventory.

"Kurotenshi is back!" he called to the chef, who turned pale in a similar way. "May I have my pay now?" the chef nodded rapidly, handing him a moneybag. The waiter pulled out 10 silver coins and slid them across the counter. "This is payment for what she ate. See you later, Chu phở!" making his way back to us, he explained.

"Black Angel is the alias of an infamous eat-and-runner, Kurotenshi." he said kindly. "My player name is Exile Wrath. Could you possibly help me catch her? She's eaten over 100 crystal coins worth of food, without paying."

Immediately, I replied vehemently, "Yeah! Fai and me will help you! Anyone who eats such delicious food as this and doesn't bother to pay should be corpse camped back to Level 1!" Fai stared at me with disbelief.

"Are you kidding me, Zero?" he croaked. "Do you really think that we can catch someone like that? That person in probably a rogue at least, to be able to escape that fast."

"So?" I declared, "She pulled an eat and run on such delicious food! She needs to be taught a lesson!" Turning the wai- I mean Exile, I nodded rapidly. "We'll help. What are you?"

He gave me a kind, grateful smile, "I'm a Level 24 bounty hunter."

"What a bounty hunter?" I asked. _Exactly how many Continent-specific classes are there?_

Fai rolled his eyes and elbowed me in the side. "A bounty hunter is a really hard class to get, and it's common to all five continents. The only way to become one is to encounter the NPC while hunting an outlaw. Bounty hunters specialize in PKing people. They're really strong and agile. They are allowed to learn some magic spells in order to make their jobs easier. They're like the police of Second Life."

"Wow! I'm impressed; not many people know that!" Exile complimented. "Anywho, I thought it was Kurotenshi when I saw her earlier, so I cast Track on her." Fai raised an eyebrow.

"What class bounty hunter are you?" he demanded. Exile, having changed out his waiter's uniform, thought for a moment and shrugged. He had black hair pulled into an extremely short ponytail, similarly black eyes, and was dressed in at least Class C armor, black leather gauntlets, loose, formfitting pants, and a light gray shirt obscured by a giant dark blue overcoat. I couldn't see his weapon anywhere.

"I have no idea." Exile confessed. "I'm only a bounty hunter because I got lost and asked the NPC for directions back to the village. I ended up accidentally killing the outlaw for the class quest. I've been to the guild twice, so I think I'm a C class hunter." Fai's eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and the single spike in his red hair lengthened in shock, like a character out of an old comic.

"I have no idea what you two are talking about." I cut in bluntly. "Can we hurry up and kill that stupid eat-and-runner? I call first hit." Fai shook himself out of his stupor and held a hand out to Exile.

"We'll help if you join our team." he offered to him. "We're looking for more party members at the moment. I'm a Level 22 rogue and Zero here," nudging me, "is a Level 22 warrior. And before you bother asking, the white thing that was on her head earlier was a Firebun pet."

Exile was silent for a moment before shrugging. "I really don't care. I'm usually a soloist, so I might not work well with parties."

"It's fine!" I interrupted, exasperated with all the talk, "Besides, strength in numbers, right? And I can we please hunt and catch that criminal NOW?" Exile looked my way and then nodded hesitantly.

"Sure. This way." He agreed shortly, walking away from the food stall. He seemed focused on something in front of him, but I couldn't see anything.

Before I could complain about being lost after the 3rd U-turn that Exile made, Fai laid a warning hand on my arm. "Track is a spell that allows you to track and follow the target. Apparently it appears as a small diamond that points in the direction that the target is in. At higher ability levels it appears as a line tracing their path."

_That sounds handy._ I grumbled. _If I had that, or if stupid Gui was a bounty hunter instead of a bard, then I wouldn't have gotten lost all those times!_

Exile stopped in his tracks, causing me to bump into his back. "Ow!" I complained, rubbing my nose. "What was that for?" Exile looked at me from the corner of his eye and gave me a warning glare.

"Quiet, Zero." he hissed. "Kurotenshi is in that food stall right there." he pointed at a familiar figure that was currently enjoying itself a bowl of some sort of noodles in a red soup, and with things that looked like meatballs floating in there. Before I could charge over, Fai grabbed the back of my neck.

"You _baka._ He knows what he's doing, if he's a C-class at Level 24!" he hissed dangerously. "If you make one sound, you might draw her attention and she'll recognize us and run!" I shut up, as I felt something as pointy as Fai's stringed kunai poke the small of my back.

"_Elves of thunder, heed my call." _Exile began chanting with his hands raised. "_Strike with the wrath of an Exile on they who dare commits crimes and repeat them! Paralysis Chain!_" With a cry, Kurotenshi dropped her chopsticks and started writhing on the floor as sparks danced across her body, forming almost like a yellow, electric chain.

(Player Exile Wrath has used Paralysis Chains on Player Kurotenshi HP – 15/sec)

"Clear out! I am a bounty hunter, and that girl is my target!" he commanded, and the area cleared within a matter of seconds.

An evil grin formed on my face as I dashed forward, drawing out the dao that I had obtained from the warrior NPC. It was a lucky growth-type weapon, but it was nowhere as strong as my Black Dao. "Nine-headed Dragon Strike!" I declared, lashing out at the girl with nine successive slashes. My _Attack Succession _combined with _Nine-headed Dragon Strike _always did quite a number of damage.

(Player Zero has attacked Player Kurotenshi HP 50/260)

_Wow, she's nearly dead already!_ I thought gleefully, raising my sword for one final strike. Something flared up in the girl's eyes; something dangerous.

"_Demons of wind and leaves, hear me and heal my wounds that I may wreak havoc upon those who dare defy my mighty race!_" she exclaimed, pulling a long yew staff from her back. "_Moderate Heal_!" A soft white healing light issued from her staff as she healed herself.

(Moderate Heal successful, Kurotenshi HP 250/260)

_Shoot, she's a priest! _I panicked. _And a really strong one at that! Only a Moderate Heal and she's nearly at full health! _"Nine-Headed Dragon Strike!" I declared again.

"Leaf Barrier!" she cried, raising her staff and summoning a whirlwind of leaves to protect her, rendering my _Nine-Headed Dragon Strike_ useless.

"Zero! Get over here!" Fai cried, backing up a few steps. Exile was staring impassively at the _Leaf Barrier_, as if it wasn't surprising. Turning around, I only saw his foot as he leapt off the ground, and used my head to jump above her _Leaf Barrier_. "Seven-Bomb Blowup!" he cried, dropping 7 random bombs into the center of the whirlwind.

"Did you have use me as a jumping platform?" I yelled angrily once he landed back on the ground. "I am a woman you know!" Fai just gave me a disdainful glance.

"_Urusai, Ouji-san." _He said sarcastically. I froze. "Lolidragon is my cousin. I'm half Chinese, half Japanese." Fai PMed me. "So I know who you are. She told me to look out for a girl like you, and ne that seemed to be used to being chased by girls. I figured it out after I saw you beat up the Winged Snake King and use _Nine-headed Dragon Strike. _Don't try to lie, or I will kill-steal you for the rest of the week." He threatened over the PM channel.

"Fine." I PMed back. "Just don't tell her that you've found me." Switching back to open chat, I spoke, "Exile, what should do know? She's sealed herself off." He looked at Fai appraisingly.

"Hey, Fai, what bombs did you use?" he inquired. My brow furrowed.

_Does Exile swing _that _way? This whole time he's hardly talked to me and has only focused on Fai! _I debated inwardly.

"I used an Explosion Bomb, a Poison Bomb, a Rash Bomb, a Static Bomb, a Wildfire Bomb, a Frost Bomb, and a Smokescreen." Fai answered. "The Explosion and Wildfire were for damage and the rest inflict really annoying status ailments. With Smokescreen, she won't be able to concentrate properly." Exile nodded in approval.

"Good job. _Arms of Earth!"_ he declared. A brownish light surrounded his gauntlets. "_Moderate Dispel!" _Abruptly, the _Leaf Barrier_ died down, leaving Kurotenshi blinking in confusion.

"_Fangs of the Viper!"_ all of a sudden, Kurotenshi once again dropped to the ground, blood staining her clothes. I squinted and looked closer.

(Fangs of the Viper successful, Kurotenshi HP 10/260)

"Woah…is his weapons those gauntlets?" I asked Fai, who was squinting as well. Exile's index and middle finger had pierced a vital pressure point in Kurotenshi's back, and they were buried in her skin. I estimated that Fai's _Seven-Bomb Blowup_ had done around 150 damage, so Fangs of the Viper did around…90? Gah, math hurt my head. That's why I became a literature major.

"I surrender!" she shrieked, blood around her mouth. "You win!" Exile grinned smugly, eyes narrowing as he pulled out his fingers from her back.

"As repayment for the 500 crystal coins that you've eaten, you have to do whatever the bounty hunter that gets you orders you to do." He said coldly. My jaw dropped. _500 crystal coins? He only told us 100! GAH, that little XXX! She deserves to die until Level -1000!_

"What do you want then?" she hissed. Exile pointed at us.

"They're looking for a priest. Also, since they helped defeat you, they're included in the Criminal's Law." seeing her confusion, "Join their party and help them. And keep out trouble." He clarified. Her face twisted into a sneer.

"So? It's not like I have any money to pay for the food I've stolen, so now you're going to make me help them out?" she spat. "Fine. Now give me back my staff!" Exile, who had taken the yew away so she couldn't use it, placed in back in her hand. "Moderate Heal!"

"Just remember this…" Exile flashed a thin-lipped smile. "Ever get a negative reputation again and I will bloody corpse camp you to Level 1. Understood?" Fear flashed through her eyes and she nodded rapidly.

"Happy now?" I muttered to Fai. "We now have a priest and a bounty hunter." Fai frowned.

"Exile, where are you going? Aren't you joining us?" he asked, gesturing to me and Kurotenshi. In the meantime, I approached the disgruntled demon priest.

"Hihi!" I said cheerfully.

She looked at me with a fierce gaze. "What, are you mad that I dumped the bill on you?" she snapped. "Well, I'm not sorry." I faked a surprised look.

_Of course I'm mad! _I thought. "No, I'm not." I said diplomatically. "But I want to say thank you for letting us taste that really good food earlier! By the way, what were eating before we took you down?" She gave me a surprised look. "Look, I'm good at cooking. If you join us, I'll cook you meals everyday so you won't have to eat and run anymore. Just tell the name of the foods that you like. I'll look them up and make them for you."

"…"

"Hey, I'm serious here! And I'm a warrior, so this is offering a huge amount of my time to cook for you!" I snapped. For the first time, her lips curled into a small smile.

"Okay. You better keep your word! And by the way, I live in B city, which is near the Vietnam and China border, so that's why I like Vietnamese food so much! You can call me Kuro for short. Kuro or Angel. And I'm Level 21!" she rambled. I was taken aback. _So she's usually mean and snappish, but she's a chatterbox with her friends? _I shook my head. _I don't think I can ever attract normal people. First an elf rogue that behaves like a gentleman on the outside and is a notorious kill-stealer on the inside, and now a demon priest that is like this? Great…although I can't really be talking._

"So you've agreed?" Fai asked, walking to us. I noticed that he looked particularly downcast.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He sighed, never a good sign, "Exile left. He's said he doesn't like working with people." I patted his shoulder in consolation.

"Don't worry Fai! Even if you get rejected once, there are plenty of other people out there!" I exclaimed. Fai gave me a confused look and then took out his kunai.

"I'M NOT GAY, BAKA DA NE!" he screamed, chasing me.

"Angel, save meeeeee!" I cried, running around in circles to avoid the redhead's wrath. Our new priest looked at us and shook her head.

"Don't worry." she advised. "I'll heal you before you die, so then you don't have to retrain."

"I didn't mean it like that!"

From the roof, Exile looked down at the group. _They're pretty interesting. _She mused to herself. _Maybe I'll join them someday. Maybe. _

With that, the two groups separated, an exile going one way, and the new companions of the to-be-reborn Prince the other.

**Exile: I'm sorry if Lan was a bit OOC here. Writing her IC is fun, but I figured that this is how she'd react after not being able to kill anything for TWO DAYS STRAIGHT.**

**Terms:**

**-Corpse camp- camping at a rebirth point and continually killing players as they are reborn. **

**-Party bag/ inventory- in games like Second Life, teams have a special, team-specific inventory which everyone in the team can access. When joining a team, whatever money and quest items you have go into the party inventory. If you ever leave, you leave with the amount that you contributed while you were in the team. This came with the week-of-reprogramming-and-peace-talks-patch.**

**-"C Class armor"- In Second Life, armors and weapons are divided into "classes", going from F-Class to SS-Class. Growing-type weapons change classes as they level up. F class items only give one stat (such as the newbie pants with +2 defense) and SS-class items may give 7 stats [(i. e. : The Bloody Tiara, growing-type accessory; strength +10, agility +10; Equip: HP recovery speed +10%; Defense: 10% of damage received negated) even though it only have 5 stats, it has very high stats and is growing-type, so it is SS-class]**

**The armor classes, from weakest to strongest, are: F, D, C, B, A, AA, S, SS**

**-Reputation system – doing "bad" things, like PKing people without due cause, eat-and-running, and committing crimes in general make your reputation go down. Doing good deeds (like saving an NPC, donating lots of money, saving little kiddies) raise your reputation. Kurotenshi has a bad rep because of her history.**

**-Bounty hunter's guild – the bounty hunter class has a guild exclusive to that class and their teammates. There they receive bounties to either kill people with negative reputation, bizarre monsters that haven't been beaten yet, or receive missions to protect people from "man-made accidents". The guild has a ranking system for the missions, and you have to be a rank equal to or higher than the mission that you want to take in order to accept it. In order to rise in rank, you have to take Hunt Tests, which will appear later in the story.**

**-PKing (Player Killing) – this is the most basic gaming term ever, I'd be surprised if you actually have to read the definition for this. PKing is killing other players. (DUH)**

**-Soloist – someone that plays the game without taking the aid of a team or party. They go through the whole game doing quests by themselves. It's not as bad as it sounds.**

**-Review - an action which make fanfiction authors so happy that they want to do weekly updates :D**


	4. The Vocaloid and the Bounty Hunter

**Exile: Hello again!I don't own!**

**And BTW...the questions from last chapter haven't been answered, so now they are null and void. **

**These chapter bonus questions (for a free preview of next chapter!)**

**1) What song is Len singing?**

**2) What song is Len's Mage-type? (Hint: There's a high-pitched scream in the beginning, and it's often associated with megaphones. There's also a plane in the PV, and it was originally sung by Miku.)**

**3) Which chapter in the light novel is Iori Yagami's _Rage of Eight Maidens _ mentioned? (Hint: it's in the first book)**

* * *

The Prince's Rebirth

The Vocaloid and the Bounty Hunter

"So, so far we have a warrior, a rogue, and a priest." Kurotenshi thought aloud, nibbling away at a Vietnamese mung bean cake. I was doing the same. The only main things wrong with our priest was that she (1) was a huge glutton, and (2) is more of a mage than a priest.

"We should get some mages and possibly another melee striker." Fai chipped in.

_Are you kidding? This glutton is like a mage and a priest all in one! _I thought indignantly. "Well, we need strong people, definitely. I'm now Level 30, Fai is 29, and Angel is 29 too… Fai, what is the minimum level to be able to take the "Reborn Prince" world quest?" Angel's jaw dropped, and she looked at Fai with eyes of disbelief.

"One second! You intend to take the "Reborn Prince" quest?" she said loudly, attracting the attention of the people in the small café. They directed looks at Fai, who remained unfazed by the stares. Instead, he reached across the table and yanked Angel up by the ear. I grabbed the rest of the food and followed them, still eating.

_Dang this food is really good. I should learn how to make it._ I mused, going into a dark alley to follow Fai and Angel. "Oi, where are we going?" I asked, looking around confusedly. "Where are youuuuuuu?" There was no answer. I went further down the dark alley, looking around confusedly.

I shrugged, "All well. I'll just finish this food first and then I'll find them." With that, I turned around and headed towards the main street, intending to find somewhere to sit down and enjoy my mung bean cakes, Vietnamese sandwiches, broiled meat, and packaged phở that were in my inventory. Much to my dismay, Fai and Angel appeared right in front of me. "There you are!"

"Fai, are you sure that this person was Prince?" Kurotenshi muttered under her breath. I stared at Fai in disbelief. "Whatever. As long as you can back up your claims." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fai, why did you tell her?" I PMed him. The redhead winced.

"It was the fastest way to explain." he PMed back reluctantly. "And I'm not that good at lying."

Angel stared at us, her head going back and forth. "You know what? Let's go train."

I brightened up right away. "Good idea! Fai, I want to tell you something." the former GM turned to me, a puzzled expression on his face. Still smiling, I said, "Every monster that you steal from me will result in me sending you to the rebirth point. And…" I let the threat hang in the air, keeping back a smirk as Fai's eyes widened fractionally.

"Darnit." I heard him curse under his breath as I hummed happily to East Dragon Gate.

* * *

"Bun Bomb!" Angel declared, tossing Firebun at the groups of mobs that were chasing Fai. To the east of Green Dragon City were Demon Plants, which ranged from Level 30 to 36, perfect for farming. This mob looked like a brightly colored flower, but when you stepped near them, each petal would split in half, revealing a mouth for each petal. The leaves were so sharp that they should be illegal, and the roots could project each Demon Plant into the air, enabling them mobility. The lucky thing was that Fai's agility was rather high…

Our strategy worked like this: I would use Firebun's Scorching Flame and Flame Wings ability to provoke a large patch of "flowers", and they would subsequently rise up like zombies from the ground and start chasing Firebun, which was too fast and could fly high enough that he wouldn't get any damage. Fai would then use a _Wildfire Bomb_ (Ability Level 20, uses 75 mana, range 200 meters, AOE 15 meters, causes 80 Fire damage and gives Burn status for 4 seconds, HP – 40/sec) to draw their attention to him.

By now, the Demon Flowers would have only around 1/2 their HP left, so then I could use Bun Bomb to draw a large bunch to me whilst I used _Inferno Slash_ (Ability Level 25, uses 30 mana, causes 125 Fire damage and 75 normal damage) to cut them down, tossing in a _Nine-Headed Dragon Strike _every now and then.

In the meantime, Kurotenshi would take Firebun and cast _Flaming Rage_ (Ability Level 24, uses 50 mana, Fire – type attacks +50% damage, lasts for 900 seconds) on it and use Bun Bomb to distract more of the mobs chasing Fai, which would go after her. By now, I would be finished with my batch, so she would cast _Flaming Rage_ on me as I came and chopped up more "vegetables"…while she added in a _Thundershock_ on especially impertinent ones.

For the rest of the mobs chasing Fai, Angel and I would flank the plants and slowly whittle the group down to four or five Demon Plants; we would attack one or two individually and take them down until they slowly decreased. When the mobs were enough for him to handle, Fai would evacuate to some high place and use his stringed kunai (of which he had 10, and 4 were growing-type) like yo-yos and continually spear the Demon Plants beneath him, a sadistic smile on his face the whole time. Though once in a while the tree that Fai would try to hide in would turn out to be a Demon Plant, prompting him to nearly die while Angel laughed her head off and I burned it down with _Inferno Nine-Headed Dragon Slash _(a combination of _Inferno Slash_ and _Nine-Headed Dragon Strike_).

This way, we were able to level up quite nicely. Kurotenshi also had forced both of us to accept the Demonic Remedy quest, which required us to get 30 Demon Plant Ashes and gave nearly 5600 XP. So now all we had to do was go to the city again and turn in the quest, and then we'd level up one more time! _Yep, that's how efficient we are…when it comes to beating things up._

"Zero, Kuro, don't go into the trees." Fai advised us during a break in which we were busy assigning skill points after getting to Level 37 two hours later. The field which the Demon Plants spawned was directly accessible from Green Dragon City by a small, beaten-down path off the main road between Red Phoenix City and Green Dragon, and was surrounded by a crescent of sickly-looking trees. Leaning on the soft grass, I gave him a questioning look.

"Why?" I asked.

"There are rumors that the entire forest is actually a giant mob, the Demon Plant King." he explained. "It's supposed to be around Level 45, so at our levels, we'd be one-shot in an instant." Kurotenshi shot up, an eerie look in her eyes.

"Seriously!" she exclaimed. "We'll need to kill that thing sooner or later! After all, Demon Plant King Fangs, when used on an equip-able item, raises all the stats by 15%. So imagine how strong we'd be! And when they're ground into a powder and consumed, they provide a +30% Wood damage boost."

_Great, she's starting to ramble._ I grumbled inwardly. "Well, let's avoid it for now. Like Fai said, we'll be one-shot if we try at our levels. Let's turn in the quest first."

* * *

We stood up and trekked back to the city, Fai sorting the party inventory, Angel discussing the traits of Demon Plant King Fangs, and I trying to ignore her. We cashed in the quest, and then went to a café to eat some food and arrange our skill points, now that we were at Level 39 (It turned out we leveled up twice from the quest). "You know, it would be a lot faster if we a mage or two. It would cut the time in half." Fai commented, legs as weak as jelly from all the running. "And I'll see you guys tomorrow night; I have to log off right now because I have to go to work at 6 AM. Bye." With that, the rogue rudely logged off, leaving me with Angel.

"Well now, that was rude." she said peevishly.

_Way to state the obvious. _"What should we do now? Level up to then we can beat him up tomorrow night?" I suggested.

She shook her head of dark green hair. "No…why not look around for a mage? That way we can level up all together tomorrow." I thought a bit.

"Well, what should we look for?" I asked. "Finding any mage is easy, but it will be difficult to find a mage that suits us. Some mages specialize in area spells good for handling a number of mobs at a time. Others prefer to focus their attacks so that they have stronger spells, but they can only take on one mob at a time this way. There are mages who choose to spam weak but fast attacks, as well as mages who prefer all-or-nothing bursts of magic. The type of elemental magic also plays an important role, so we'll have to find a mage depending on what types of mobs you want to fight…" I quoted, recalling Wolf-dage's words.

Angel's jaw dropped. "You…you…"

"What?"

"You actually said something smart!" she cried in disbelief. I froze. "All I've heard you talk about is food,"

_Hey, look who's talking, you eat-and-runner!_

"killing Fai,"

_You would too, if you had to experience him kill-stealing from you for three days straight!_

"killing mobs,"

_One second, who was the one that beat up a mob without using any spells even though she's a priest, by just using her staff to whack them repeatedly on the head?_

"and the Reborn Prince quest – wait, that doesn't count, because I've only heard you talking about it once,"

_That's because I AM Prince!_

"oh, and getting more party members."

_Hello? WE ONLY HAVE THREE PEOPLE AT THE MOMENT!_

"But, yeah. How do you know so much?" she questioned.

"Friends." I replied immediately, the face of Wolf-dage and Yulian-dasao appearing in my mind. "Let's look for a mage that can multitask, eh?" Angel nodded.

"Sure…one sec, what's that crowd over there?" she asked, pointing over my shoulder. I turned around, only to be confronted with a massive crowd. "Woah. Let's check it out."

As we pushed and shoved our way through the crowd, I became aware of the reason there were so many people: someone was singing. _This sounds so…wow, even better than me! Like a professional!_

_Doko kara kita no?  
Donna sugata o shite iru no?  
Dare mo, shiranai  
Sou sa boku ga yumekui Shirokuro Baku_

_Kore wa, ojousan,  
Yonanka nemurezu ni iro no kai  
Sore nara boku ga  
Mahou o kakete ageyou ka?_

_...hora yubikiri de yakusoku shiyou._

_Kowai YUME o mita boku ni makasena yo,  
marugoto tabete ageyou  
mou shinpai nai yukkuri Oyasumi  
ya na koto zenbu wasurete sa._

The person stopped singing, and I felt slightly disappointed. _Even though it's in Japanese and I don't understand it, it sounds awesome! _We finally broke through the front line and my eyes widened and something trickled from the corner of my mouth. Kurotenshi's jaw dropped, and her eyes turned into hearts.

In front of us was a blond-haired man, with hair tied in a short ponytail that barely reached the middle of his neck. His hair was spiked everywhere, showing large blue eyes. He wore a fedora with a yellow ribbon around it, and very formal, Victorian-era clothing, consisting of a yellow vest with black buttons under a larger black open peacoat, a yellow bowtie, and he wore knee-length shorts and old-shoes boots that only reached his shin. His black-gloved hands were in front of him, outstretched as he resumed singing. On his back was a cane that had a small tapir face carved onto the crook.

_Kore wa ojousan,  
mata tanomigoto ga aru tte?  
Kotowaranai sa  
kore koso ga boku no shiawase_

_...sore nara kisu de yakusoku shiyou_

At this line, several females gasped, including Angel. When she saw me questioning look, she leaned over and whispered, "He just sang "Let's seal this deal with a kiss"."

"Ah." I replied unintelligibly; I was too busy listening to the bishie. His looks were good enough that if he went against me - Prince - in a beauty contest, he'd give me a hard time. The fedora went off his head as he put it at his feet and people started tossing coins in. _That's smart!_

_motto YUME o mitai? boku ni makasena yo  
zenbu ataete ageyou  
kanbi na sutoorii tanbi na inmu o  
kokoroyuku made meshiagare_

_motto, motto nozomeba ii  
yokubou o sarakedashite  
mou nido to nukedasenai  
sokonashi no paradaisu da_

"Take me to paradise, Len! That's my desire!" someone fangirl-screamed from the crowd, and it was repeated by several other besotted fangirls. Angel gasped.

"OHMYGOD IT'S LEN KAGAMINE!" she screamed, nearly destroying my eardrums. My eyebrows furrowed.

"Who's that?" I asked bluntly. Several people in the crowd turned to me, shocked gazes on their faces. "Hey!"

"How do you not know the hottest male Vocaloid to exist?" Angel screeched in alarm. "Have you not heard "SPICE!" or his "Len Len Romantic Night"? You are such a deprived soul!" several others nodded in agreement.

"I like listening to music I can understand." Angel just rolled her eyes.

"So? You can still feel the emotion behind this song, right?" she rambled.

"Well maybe if you shut up I can hear him sing." I retorted.

_saa, tsuki ga michita nara yakume wa owari sa  
o-dai wa...wakatte'ru yo ne?  
sono hitomi no oku azayaka na yume  
zenbu, zenbu moratte ikou ka_

_mijime na kao da ne kore ga genjitsu  
kimi ga eranda koto darou?  
YUME ni oboretara yume wa kanawanai  
...monokuro no sekai e youkoso!_

By the end of the song, I wanted to hear more. The voice was able to reach the highest of the male vocal range, but he didn't sound gay or anything. His frequency of high notes just made his low notes sound manlier. Also, he was obviously gifted. "So…is Vocaloid a band or something?" I questioned quizzically. Kurotenshi shook her head emphatically.

"No! It was originally special software that could be used to create songs. Each of the software's has a different voicebank, or collection of phonemes and diaphones that have been recorded from singers at different pitches. Vocaloids are the personas given to each voicebank! Understand!" she rambled. I nodded rapidly, my eardrums feeling damaged.

By now, the fedora had come full circle and was back in the performer's hands. I nearly gaped at the overflow of money in there; heck, there were a lot of crystal coins, and I didn't see a copper in there. "We have to recruit him!" Angel cried, waving her hands excitedly. I frowned.

"No. Even if he's a good singer, we don't know what class or his fighting abilities." Len turned to us, having apparently heard our conversation.

"I'm a Vocaloid." He said smugly. "Thus, I was allowed to choose 6 songs in the beginning of the character-making process. Each song allows me a different "mode", which in turn influences the classes which I emulate. So in reality, I am a rogue, a warrior, a mage, a priest, and a guard all in one."

_What's a guard? And grr…no one with good looks should have a rotten personality. Bishie or not! _I bristled. "So? Don't you have a team already? Aren't you afraid of fangirls like before?" If possible, his expression grew even smugger.

"I hired a bodyguard." he said, "What's there to worry about? And besides, I have high abilities. I'm Level 38, and she's Level 39." I raised an eyebrow.

"A girl is your bodyguard?" I choked. _When I was Prince…no, even Lolidragon wanted to see my XXX! Who in the world would let a possible fangirl be their protector? Yulian-dasao and Doll treated me like a brother…but they also never really stood in front of me a slew the hordes of fangirls. That was Gui and I._

"Len, are we done here?" an extremely familiar voice called from the side. Kurotenshi froze and then started quaking like a leaf. My caution levels shot up. "Oh, hi Zero, hi Kuro! Haven't seen you two for a few days." Seeing her shaking, the tone changed, "Kuro? What's wrong with you?"

"Don't kill me please!" she said abruptly, bursting into tears, her bottom lip quivering. However, I looked at her bottom lip, and sure enough, she was just faking it.

"Hah?" Len and Exile said at the same times, mystified expressions on their faces.

"Exile…what did you do?"

"Oh, she's the eat-and-runner I told you about."

"Ah." With that, Len shrugged. "It was nice meeting you. Exile told me about the female elf warrior, the rogue that apparently knows everything, and the eat-and-runner."

"Wait…this guy is your bodyguard?" I asked in confusion. "I thought you said that it was a girl?"

Exile regarded me strangely. "Um, I am a girl." He said with a raised eyebrow.

*Thunk* Angel and I fell over. I stared at her? him? and stammered, "One second, you don't look anything like a girl!"

He- she facepalmed. "I'm a crossdresser."

_That...explains a lot._"Why?"

"Correction. She is a crossplayer." Len said. "We knew each other in real life. Cousins. And she is a fangirl of Len Kagamine. Thus…she has decided to protect her little cousin from the scary fangirls." He explained sarcastically, "She likes to cosplay as Len whenever the Vocaloid conventions happen every year in Japan."

"I still envy you." Exile ground out. My mind was blown.

_Gah! I thought that XiMen Feng had it bad, but this person…and she's doing it on purpose! As Prince, it was an irreversible choice! But who in the world…_ "So…you're a girl?"

"…Yes."

"You're a _crossdresser._"

"…Yes."

"Why are you a crossdresser?" I asked, jaw dropping. "You're a fangirl magnet like this!" Len and Exile looked at each other simultaneously.

"In real life, no matter what I do, she will always look like a guy. Whenever she dressed in a dress or skirt, she was called a crossdresser. Whenever she wore normal clothes, she was mistaken as a guy. That's just…how bad it is." The Vocaloid said resignedly. Exile winced and then started dragging Len away.

"Lennykins, time to go before the wolves come for their steak." Len immediately flinched and straightened himself up, a suddenly regal expression on his face and Exile following behind, sending death glares to fangirls that had hearts instead of eyes.

"We have to recruit them!" Angel shrieked the moment she snapped out of her shock-induced stupor. "Exile's a bounty hunter, and Len is a Vocaloid! A melee striker and a multitasker! Please, Zero?" I looked away.

_*Sweat* I think that this is my first encounter up-close with a fangirl…that's not after me. _"Do you really think that that guy would dare to join a team? He's probably afraid of getting molested or something." _*sweat* I remember that nearly happened to me at a concert…*sob*_

"So?" Angel whispered. "I don't see any fangirls in this team! Do you? We're just looking for strong people!" I rolled my eyes. "Unless he rejects us outright, I will keep pestering you for the rest of your life, Zero."

"How about…if the two of us can beat the Demon Plant King, then we'll ask him." I suggested helplessly. Kurotenshi's eyes widened as she danced towards the Eastern Gate.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry!" As I walked a far distance away from the fangirl, I faintly heard the lines of "We're going to get another bishie now~" being sung.

_*Facepalm*_

* * *

When we once again reached the Demon Plant field, our first order of business was killing the Demon Plants all over again. After much deliberation on how to kill all the plants in one go (because she wanted to see her bishie as soon as possible), Kuro stacked Firebun and I with _Flaming Rage _5 times, then tried out one of his new moves. "_Timer Bun Bomb!_" _Timer Bun Bomb_ was an amped-up version of _Bun Bomb_, but with the added effect of +15 damage, +5 range dealt for every 5 seconds that it charged up, and the longest at the moment was 2 minutes.

The sudden movement of Firebun being thrown into their midst awoke the Demon Plants as they began crowding around my poor Firebun, snapping at the poor lil' guy. However, Firebun was too small and compact to be hit by the clumsy blades and snapping mouths. "It's been two minutes. _EXPLODE!_" In an instant, Firebun opened his mouth and let loose a stream of fire, incinerating all the plants in the nearby radius. Then he flew up in the air and spun around, spewing flames from his little body and eyes everywhere, scorching the whole field. A few moments later…

"This looks like a desert." Angel observed, munching on a marshmallow roasted by Firebun's flames. "That little guy is pretty efficient."

"Of course he is! He's Meatbun's and Phoenix's son!" I retorted around a mouthful of marshmallow. Swallowing, "Now let's attack the big bad boss!" We started across the clearing and I picked up the exhausted Firebun, who was snoring soundly on the ground, his eyes closed and wings folded up, and put him on my head.

The moment we stepped into the creepy forest, the ground started rumbling. Unfazed, I forged on, cutting all things in our path: trees, thickets, shrubs, and large stones. Presently, we reached another clearing, this one much smaller. There was a stone in the middle, and there was a sunbeam shining on the stone and making the granite sparkle. Reading the words etched on the rock face, "Touch not the gem in I, or the Demonic Plant King shall awake and destroy all." I paused for a moment, staring at Angel. "Well it's pretty obvious what we need to do!" I raised my dao above my head and brought it down on the shining gem embedded in the rock, and a crack appeared in the middle. The ground started rumbling once again. "Run!" I cried, sliding down the path of crushed grass that I had produced earlier, Kurotenshi hot on my heels. When we got to the edge of the forest, I screeched to a halt, nearly falling off the edge of the sudden cliff. "What?"

The ground vibrated, the trees grew taller, and it felt as if the earth itself was attacking us. I looked over the edge of the cliff and held back a gasp. The entire forest was in the air, and underneath us was a writhing mass of roots, all which held the forest aloft in the air, at least a hood 40 meters. A shriek made me turn around, only to see Angel fending off a tree-type Demon Plants. I scrambled to my feet and dispatched it with a _Inferno Nine-Headed Dragon Slash _right away. Stirred by the movement, the trees began awakening into their Demon Plans forms. "We need to jump over!" Angel shrieked in fear. I peeked over the edge once again and held her back.

"No, you fool!" I berated. "If we go down there, then the roots will step all over us!"

"So? If we stay here, then the trees will cut us down – and you need one Inferno Nine-Headed Dragon Slash to finish off a single one! You don't have enough mana and mana potions to kill off the whole forest!" she argued back. I pushed her behind me, between the cliff and me, taking up an offensive position.

"We won't know until we try! Heal me while I cut them down- and conserve as much mana as possible! We need to stall until Firebun wakes up."

With that, I began hacking away at the trees, burning them to cinders. Sometimes I was lucky enough to kill to in one blow, but that happened less often than not. _I hope Firebun recovers soon; we need the darned Bun Bomb! _I thought angrily as I cut down yet another tree. Kurotenshi was busy healing and buffing me and debuffing the trees, easing my burden a bit. However, Demon Plants have an insane spawn rate, so it seemed almost useless. We needed something to finish or weaken them off in one blow.

"_Strafing Hawks_!" A male voice declared somewhere below us. "Whoever's up there, put up a defensive barrier now!" At once, Angel took a swig of mana potion and used her _Holy Shield _(Ability Level 36, uses 100 mana, summons a barrier around all party members for 120 seconds) on us. I felt the light surround me as something that looked suspiciously like giant birds descended, attacking the trees viciously, and many Demon Plants disappearing in white light. I frowned.

_Wind element vs. Wood element cancels each other out! _I recalled. However, presently the birds flew back up and disappeared, leaving black bumps embedded to the Demon Plant King. My eyes as I stared at the numbers that showed up on the bumps. "Angel! TAKE COVER NOW!" I commanded, tackling her to the ground at the whole forest exploded at once with all the bombs that the birds had deposited. We tumbled over the side, and landed on our feet safely by grabbing a giant root to slide down. When the smoke from the explosions cleared, I banked Angel on the head to snap her out of fangirl mode. It was Len and Exile that had helped us. "Thanks. What are you two doing here?"

"There was a job to observe and defeat the Demon Plant King." Exile said simply, waving her hand to clear the smoke. "So I dragged Len to help me. What about you?"

Before I could answer, Angel launched herself at Len, clinging to him tightly. All of us froze as she began…fangirling. "Oh my God, I was so scared! Kagamine-sama, thank you so much for saving me! I will serve you forever! I'll do anything you want! Thank you so much! From this day on, the one and only Kurotenshi shall dedicate herself to healing Kagamine-sama and protecting him from all who dare try to do anything suspicious to him! I mean," before she could continue, Exile and I, having had enough, grabbed Len and Angel respectively and pried them apart like two halves of a live oyster. Len looked positively frightened, while Angel had fainted from delight.

"Great. Hey, have you forgotten that the boss is still alive?" Exile screamed, pointing at the approaching wall of roots. "We need to keep on burning it down! Where's that rogue?" I made the "AFK" sign and her face blanched. Clearly she had no fire-based attacks.

"_Sound Blast_." Len whispered, having evidently recovered from the fangirl attack. Taking in a deep breath, he opened his mouth and let out the highest-pitched, loudest, longest scream I had ever heard, probably extreme enough that it would shatter all the glassware at home.

Cracks appeared in the landmass supported by the roots one by one, becoming a spiderweb of fractures. Exile was standing behind Len, looking completely unaffected, whereas I was on the verge of writhing in pain, being right in front of him. Think as if someone put an angry Fire Phoenix in your ears and commanded it to use _Heaven's Scorching Flame._ You should get the idea. I dragged myself out of the path of the intense scream, and Len immediately faded out. "Sound Blast only affects things directly in its path." The crossdresser explained, casting a worried glance to her cousin, who was red in the face with such a prolonged scream.

When Len finally halted screaming, the Demon Plant King's roots had been decimated and shriveled, but there were still two large roots intact. Inhaling, he informed us, "According to the quest, the Demon Plant King has three stages of difficulty. The first stage is the forest on its back and elevating out of the ground. The second is the roots, which lash out randomly to attack. And the third…" All four of us looked up at the towering landmass, which was now at a 90 degree angle to the ground, and looked like a massive earthen giant, "is an Earth Elemental."

_Oh. _"How strong are Earth Elementals?" I asked, stretching my muscles to get ready for more hacking. Angel rolled her eyes.

"Don't even think about hacking it to death." She snapped, "We need a Wood-type attack. Wood beats Earth." We looked hopefully to Len, who shook his head.

"Vocaloids can only do Sound-type spells in Mage mode." He said, and when we looked at Exile, "And Bounty Hunters only know support-type spells". Our heads drooped, and I became aware of the tremors that the Earth Elemental's step produced with each slow, grinding step.

"A Wood-type attack, huh?" I pondered, grinning to myself. The others looked at me incredulously. I swung my whole arm around several times, and then dashed towards the hulking landmass. "_Power of the Wood Spirit!"_ I declared, a brown-green light enveloping me as I stabbed my dao into the giant leg and let go right away.

* * *

_Flashback – Begin (3 months ago)_

"_Prince, you never know when you'll be alone and no one knows a certain element!" Lolidragon scolded me, whacking me on the head. "So shut up and keep practicing! You're lucky that Wicked knows some Wood-type moves and is willing to teach you! And we're going to invade the North soon, so double up on your training!" _

_Wincing, "Okay, Lolidragon." I muttered, shaking my white hair in exasperation. "But I know some Wood attacks already! I don't want to waste Wicked's time!" I insisted. Lolidragon rolled her eyes and pinched my cheeks. "Ow! What's was that for?"_

"_Be quiet!" she ordered. "Now just get out to the training grounds and listen to Wicked!" I drooped sadly. At that moment, Gui appeared._

"_YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS!~" he called. I promptly straightened up and uppercutted his chin, sending him flying back several meters._

_(Prince has attacked Guilastes HP – 200)_

"_Hello, Gui." I said coldly. _

"_YOUR MOST WONDERFUL ROYAL HIGHNESS LOOKS AS LOVELY AS EVER TODAY!" Gui yelled at the top of his lungs, launching himself at me again. I simply sidestepped, but instead of whacking him like usual, I thrust my Black Dao into the ground._

"Power of the Wood Spirit_!" From my Black Dao sprouted several branches, which reached towards the bard and entrapped him in the roots securely. "See, I can do Wood attacks!" Lolidragon facepalmed._

"_That's too passive, idiot! Get over there and start training NOW!"_

_Flashback – End_

* * *

I could have sworn that everyone's jaws dropped the moment the tree branches emerged from my dao and slowly started growing across the gigantic Earth Elemental, trapping the legs in the ground. We stood there, transfixed as the growth sped up and the mammoth Boss mob struggle with the piercing, thorny branches that kept it mired in one spot. "Now!" At my call, the other 3 shook themselves out of their stupor and proceeded to attack –that is, after Len finished screaming one more time. _Those screams are painful!_

Now that we had no more fear of its roots, our team made short work of the Demon Plant King. "_Fangs of the Viper_!"

"_Sound Blast_!"

"_Earthen Strength_!"

As my dao was currently keeping the boss in place, I contented myself with grabbing a growing tendril and rising up to see the blank face of the boss, which was slowly fracturing. I leapt off onto the plateau where the Demon Plant Trees has been, carefully sliding to the gemstone that I had fractured before.

"_Piercing Sound Blow_!"

"_Kick of a Thousand Legs_!"

"_Cursed Yew_!"

_Sounds like they're having fun._ I grumbled, reaching the gemstone. "_Rage of the Eight Maidens_!" I called, my hands descending on the stone 16 times. The power and force of the ability caused the gem to promptly shatter into individual fragments, and the monolith stilled.

When I leapt back down, I first retrieved my dao from the roots, then strode calmly over to Len and Exile while Angel snatched up the loot from the boss. Reaching out a hand, "Thank you for the help." Len and Exile hesitantly shook my hand. "We probably would have died up there…"

"No problem." Len said politely, apprehensively watching Kurotenshi from the corner of his eye. Exile scratched his – her head. _Geez, it's so hard to believe that a bishie like that is a crossdresser! _ I thought with a sigh.

"Would you like us to join your team?" Exile asked abruptly, startling the 3 of us. "I see that you guys don't have a mage yet, and could use another melee fighter…" her voice trailed off uncertainly. Hiding my smirk,

"Of course! That's very thoughtful of you!" I said cheerfully. _Hah, stupid kill-stealer! Now look who's better with recruiting people! _"And I'll make sure Angel doesn't do anything that would threaten your cousin's virginity!" I added.

"Thank you." Len replied, relaxing noticeably.

_Haha, suckers! I'm not a guy anymore! No more fangirls for meeee~_

* * *

**Exile:...Kurotenshi = Angel = Captain Obvious XDD**

**Terms: **

**XP –experience points.**

**Range and AOE are different. Range is how far away that the spell/attack can be casted. AOE is how much area that it affects.**

**One-shot: Killed in one hit**

**World Quest: It's not confined to one continent. The quest has to do with traveling around all of Second Life**

**Crossplayer- someone that cosplays as the opposite gender.**

**Review- an action which makes the author want to update every week ^_^**


	5. Real Life Selves Part 1

**Exile:**** Hello! Hihi ^_^ I don't own!**

**I have to say this, thank you for all the entries! At the bottom are those who made it into the top 7, and are now on the poll!**

**The way that judging worked was this: I sent the entries to one of my friends (who doesn't have an account) that is a huge 1/2 Prince fan. I didn't judge them myself. Why? So then there's no bias, of course! I was originally looking for a male character, but then only a few of the entries were male. That's what I mean by bias. If you're wondering why Mel is in there, I did say that you guys had competition. I submitted her as an entry to my friend, not telling him that Mel is my OC. As far as he knows, someone else submitted it. ****Also, the actual chapter itself is short. And by the way...**

**Next chapter will have some "familiar faces" pop up ^_^**

**The next chapter will not go up until the poll is closed and finished. I will close the poll after 75 votes have been cast, to ensure fair voting.**

**Also, I run by US time. SO to those on the other side of the world, whenever I announce contests, it means you have one more day than you think. **

* * *

The Prince's Rebirth

Chapter Four: Real Lives 

_Exile / Ryuukei Hitoride POV_

"Cousin, wake up!" a familiar voice called. I ignored it and rolled over, burying my face in the pillow. I faintly heard an exasperated sigh before my cousin strode over and tore off the blankets. I immediately shot up at the loss of warmth. "Get up before we're late!"

"Sen, quit nagging." I grumbled, reaching for the blankets. My cousin Sen groaned and grabbed my wrist, attempting to pull me out of bed. "Let go before you die several times." I threatened.

"Shut up, Rei! You're going to XXX University today, remember?" I rolled my eyes and tumbled out of bed with an annoyed expression. My name – I have 2 names – is Ryuukei Hitoride. My Vietnamese birth name was Thua Nguyen. The irritating cousin that had just barged in to rudely wake me up is Cao Cai Sen. We're both 22, and I had just moved from Tokyo to T city last week.

Standing up, I staggered to the restroom and turned on the cold water tap. When it was full, I dunked my head into the sink, standing back up to shake off the excess water from my hair. Sen came back in my room and threw up his hands. "Can't you behave more like a woman every now and then?" he complained. I stared at him, water dripping to the tiles at my feet.

"No. Now get out so I can change." I retorted grabbing a towel and chucking it at his face. Sen caught it and tossed it back.

"It doesn't really matter whether I'm in here while you change or not," he scoffed, "With those black bandages around your chest, I can't see anything." I shrugged.

"Suit yourself." I pushed past him and rifled through my drawers looking for something to wear, pulling on a black T-shirt and a pair of black jeans at lightning speed. I'll admit that even though I'm a crossdresser, I still have some modesty. I'm not going to show stupid Sen my chest anytime soon!

Sen turned around, "Can't you try to not look like a guy on your first day here?" he complained sarcastically, facepalming, "I swear, if we didn't bathe together when we were little, I would seriously doubt you being female!"

"Die, Sen, die." I cursed as I dashed to the kitchen, "Good morning, Granny." Our grandma looked up from the book she had been reading on the couch and pointed to the table, where an egg sandwich awaited me. Granny was mute, and had lived with Sen as long as I could remember. His mom had died in childbirth, and his dad was always at work. Granny had taken care of him ever since he was little.

My own parents are in America, doing who-knows-what with their lives. I didn't care really, as long as someone fed and clothed me. Ever since I was 6, I was traded in between my relatives until I was 18 and no longer a minor. At 18, I got into Tokyo-U and the occurrence of being shipped between relatives stopped. Last week, however, I moved in with my cousin again. I had lived with Sen and Granny 5 times, this being the fifth. This time it was my own choice, though. I was transferring into XXX University for their Creative Writing Course. Tokyo-U was better for stuff like law and the sciences.

As cousins go, Sen and I have a pretty good relationship, minus the fact that he is absolutely dead set on reforming me of crossdressing. At one point in time, he had threatened to kick me out of the house if I didn't stop, but Granny whacked him on the head with the frying pan, and he hasn't said anything like that ever since. We're as close as brother and sister, and he was probably my favorite cousin.

"Rei, hurry up. The bus is almost here." He yelled from the hallway. I hurriedly finished my breakfast and bowed to Granny, "Good bye Granny!" we chorused at the same time. I picked up my backpack, slipped on some tennis shoes, and followed Sen to the bus stop, waving at the window Granny was. Right on cue, the bus pulled up. I looked around, seeing that there was only one empty seat.

"Sen, I'll stand, you sit down." I offered, grabbing a hold of one of the handholds that hung from the roof of the bus. Sen facepalmed. "Sen, if you keep on facepalming, your face is going to go flat someday." I chided. Sen sighed and sat down, looking around us. He fidgeted constantly, turning his head frequently to observe the passengers – I'm _not staring at him, honest! I was looking through the bus windows!_ In order stop – _Iwasn'tstaringIswear _– I checked my messenger bag to make sure my stuff was in there, like my laptop and ideabook. I felt eyes staring at Sen, and I had to resist turning around to give those girls death glares.

Ever since I had known Sen after living him for the first time, I knew one thing for certain – he attracted girls like flies to carrion. I was always the one that pulled him away from the area to save him. I don't know why, but Sen is like a little brother to me rather than a cousin. So as his "older sister" I felt obligated to protect him from the crazy fangirls. It didn't help that he looked like an _ikemen_, even I'll admit that he has good looks. And now I have to protect in-game too! He just had to go off and become Len Kagamine for _Second Life_ – not that I really mind because physically bashing insane fangirls can be rather fun – _Fangirls don't kill me please._

When the bus pulled up to XXX University, Sen's head swiveled around one last time, his eyes narrowed into a death glare that he usually didn't use. "Sen, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, Rei." He said cheerfully. I dismissed it.

_Come on, it's MY job to be violent, not yours!_

* * *

_Len Kagamine / Cao Cai Sen POV_

_She's so freaking dense I want to throttle her! _I screamed mentally, looking around the bus to glare at the other women that had now started staring at _my _cousin with besotted expressions. _How do they not realize that she's female?_

My name is Cao Cai Sen. My friends usually call me Cai, but Rei decided that "Sen" sounded better. Speaking of Rei...that darn crossdresser! If a police officer looked at her, she'd be pulled aside for looking so suspicious, wearing black and all. If a guy looked at her, they'd feel killing intent for stealing all their women. If any sort of female looked at her (unless they were extremely resistant to handsomeness and/or had a boyfriend/husband) their eyes were turned into hearts. It was irritating. I didn't hate Rei, how could I hate the girl I love?

…Yes, I love Rei…more than a cousin should. Go ahead and sue me! I don't care what other people think, unless they try to blackmail me. If they try…then every time they log onto Second Life, they'll be corpse camped (one of the few bonuses of having a fangirl army). My I shot off another round of glares at the women that were staring at Rei, which was virtually everyone on the bus. The guys that were glaring at Rei had twisted expressions as they saw the power of Rei as a fangirl magnet. There was a redheaded guy in the corner of my eye that was regarding her with interest. Just as Rei saved me from the estrogen brigade, I made sure to keep everyone off of her – not that she would ever believe that she was a fangirl magnet, even if someone told her to her face a dozen times a day. Call me possessive, I don't care. I came to terms with my emotions several years ago.

And yet she still doesn't get that I love her! I swear, not even using _Sound Blast _to scream, "I love you!" would have any effect on her. No matter what, it won't get into that thick skull of hers. Every time I did work up enough courage, she'd have the nerve to ruffle my hair and reply that she loved me too! But in a sibling way. When we got to the bus stop for XXX University, I saw several females start moving towards the door (and Rei) but they froze the moment my actual death glare hit them. _I don't care whether it appears that I'm gay, but Rei is mine! _

"Sen, what's wrong?" she asked in her usual baritone voice. I immediately looked up at her with a "cheerful" expression.

"Nothing, Rei." I said quietly. She shrugged. _Kukukuku, she can't tell whether I'm lying or not. _"Come on."I stood up and grabbed her wrist, nearly smirking at the expressions of the surrounding women and spotting the redhead's surprised look. Rei followed me off obediently through the large iron-wrought gates of the campus. "Bye, Rei. Do you want me to show you to the Literature building?"

"It's okay. Bye, Sen. Don't get nom'd by fangirls." she said, bending down to peck me on the forehead. _She's actually taller than me! It's not fair!_ I felt myself blush as I sprinted off to the Sciences Building. She had developed that…habit ever since she was little. And given my situation…you get the idea.

I turned to look back one last time to see Rei scratching her head at the large campus map, and the redhead from the bus walking up to her. _That XXX! He will die the moment I log on and track him down! Get away from her! _I thought as the first bell rang and the tide of people carried me towards the building as I witnessed them shake hands. If I was an old cartoon character, I'd have a large anger mark on my forehead by now.

* * *

_Fai Blaze / Teritsukeru Kaen POV_

I hummed quietly along with the music that was playing in my ears with my _YPod X_ that I had gotten at a bargain price as I moved the boxes in the storage room to a less haphazard order. The work was menial, but since it required little thought, I allowed my thoughts to wander. 2 weeks ago, I'd finally started playing Second Life and had been fortunate enough to get my cousin off my back. And now this week I'd be changing my major at XXX University from business to journalism. I had at first felt inclined to become a small business order, but XXX-U was better with Literature and Science- related majors. "Kaen! You're done for today!" My manager called from his room. I put down the last box of expensive electronics and took off my apron, putting it back in my employee locker and signing off my name on the work chart.

I worked a modest wage at a privately-owned electronics store from 6 to 8 AM. My usual day went along the lines of: Wake up at 4, cook breakfast for my little brothers so they had something to eat when they woke up, finish my homework from the day before by 5:30, and then run to work, which was a few minutes away. I usually didn't take the bus because it was a waste of time to wait for the bus. It was faster for me to run, as usually the bus wouldn't be anywhere near my stop at 5:30 in the morning. I had two little brothers that I took care of myself. My mom was currently in prison for doing something stupid like pulling a hit-and-run when she was drunk, and my dad had long been gone from the family scene. My brothers and I were illegitimate children, as dad was some heir a famous corporation and my mom had been the woman he loved, except rich people get fiancés, yadayadayada. So he and mom were forced to divorce and she went off the loop, turning alcoholic, but not abusive. This happened when I was 14 and my brothers were still only 3 year-old toddlers. Now, I am 24 and they are 13 year-old middle schoolers. As my mom was in jail, I felt obligated to take care of my little brothers. They didn't deserve to have to live a hard life at all. Our dad sent us money on our birthdays, but I kept it in a savings account for when they were older and used the money every now and then for bills. I didn't want to be completely reliant on someone who I never saw after I was 14, and someday he might forget about us. My mom knew about the money, but had the same mindset as me. She usually got wasted using her own money.

I'm also half Japanese half Chinese, my dad was Chinese and mom is Japanese. They met here in Taiwan, so that's why I'm here.

I strode out of the shop, headed towards the bus stop and made it there right when it pulled up. I stepped aboard, bracing myself for the standard ogling. In this day and age, it isn't rare for people to have natural red eyes or purple hair, so why is it that my red hair always attracts attention? When I didn't feel any stares, I looked around in confusion. _That's weird. _I contemplated, observing around me until I saw someone familiar. _Exile? Is that Exile? He goes to XXX University too? _My jaw dropped. A few meters away was undoubtedly the bounty hunter from 5 days ago. I haven't played for the last 3 days because of the paperwork for transferring majors.

"So that guy is a fangirl magnet too, huh?" I muttered, slightly pitying him. He didn't see me, as he was facing a shorter blond guy – by shorter I mean at least 7 centimeters shorter – and the shorty was looking around giving people death glares.

We reached the bus stop for XXX-U presently, and I made my way towards Exile to say hello. I was still hoping to recruit him onto our team. However, I was blocked off by the flood of other students. When I finally managed to get off, I saw him staring at the large campus map with blank eyes. "Where the hell is the Literature building?" he asked no one in particular. I looked around, but didn't see the shorty anywhere nearby.

"Exile, is that you?" I asked, walking up to him. He spun around at once, apparently recognizing me.

"Fai Blaze, right? Why haven't you been on lately?" he said. "It's surprising to see you here in real life."

"Are you new?" I asked. "And my name is Teritsukeru Kaen." His eyes lit up and he held out a hand.

"My name is Ryuukei Hitoride." He replied. "Yes, I'm new. I'm trying to find the Literature building." I smiled. _God sure likes coincidences._

"I'm going there right now!" I said, "Want me to lead the way?" I offered. Ryuukei nodded rapidly.

"Call me Rei, okay? I'm majoring in creative writing. What about you?"

"Journalism." I replied. "I just changed from business."

"Oh. Do you know where the class for Standard Literature is taught? Professor Min Gui Wen? That's my first class."

My eyes widened. "Seriously? That's mine, too." We both paused. "God sure loves coincidences." We walked in silence, me leading the way. When we got to the classroom, Rei voiced,

"What's that crowd in front of the class? Wait, is that…"

"Zero!" We both yelled at the recognizable female that was in the middle of the crowd. _That's definitely Zero!_

_God…this isn't some old cartoon! What's with all these coincidences?_

* * *

**Exile: The judging is finished! These are the characters you will be voting for!**

* * *

**Name: SunnyNight, Night (Kim Minzi)  
**Personality: Very kind. She's easily fooled, but has a warm heart. Night is very trusting and lovable. She loves to bake cookies since she never got home cooked food, and is always asking for new recipes from friends. But, if you get on her bad side by either refusing her cookies or hurting any of her team mates, she can turn into a cold blooded woman with no guilty conscience what so ever. She also loves hot Asian guys, but dislikes English-style Len Kagamine. She is very fond of Korean boy bands (2PM, Big Bang, MBlaq, etc.).  
Quirks: She is fooled easily, so she spends money easily (probably will break Fai's heart). She also bakes cookies in game that smell horrible but are really delicious. Night also loves to cosplay from Tokyo Mew Mew. If you trick her and she finds out…you're dead.  
Appearance: A little short, with big brown eyes that make her look totally innocent. Her hair is an almost white shade of gray, and her 'shape' is actually better then Feng Lan's in real life. Her hands are thin, delicate, and burned from trial-and-error from making cookies. She wears a knee-length white dress with calf length shoes. A white headband and white rose are in her hair. Her wand is a white one with a light blue gem attached to the top.  
Real Life: Same height; actually has black hair with a bright gold streak near her eyes. Loves to sing, play piano, and write books and short stories. Attends a private school in Korea; wears knee length socks, black jacket, white shirt, red bow, and black skirt. Usually does her hair in a pony tail-her hair length: down to small of back when released.  
Class: Mage, Main is Water and her secondary is Light.  
Strengths: Very strong with water (manipulates near-by water to suit needs). Is a water element because she sets cookies on fire very often, and she needs a handy bit of water around. ^.^'. Her second element, Light, is to check on the cookies when they're in the oven. Also, accidentally put some skill points into strength and agility in the beginning of the game, so she's a very fast and strong mage. Goes for all-or-nothing bursts, but she can spam random Light attacks if needed, but they aren't that strong.  
Weaknesses: Absolutely can NOT save money. She's also susceptible to cons, tricks, and pranks. *ahem* Attacks wise, she's a little more resistant to warrior attacks than most mages, but is very much affected by the earth element, sound (since she dislikes Len's screaming) based attacks, and the darkness elements. Affected by debuffs very deeply.  
Flaws: Absolutely can't keep her temper. Will PK a person for merely insulting her if in a bad mood. Also is inherently evil, and is highly provocative, insulting, and irritating when in 'black night' mood. Also, when in a good mood, will cry for a LOOOOONNG time when her feelings are hurt. Never had any personal contact with good friends, which is why she treasures her friends in Second Life so much. Would practically murder to keep her friends alive.  
Why they would accept Night: Because her cookies would appeal to Feng Lan, Night would pummel Fai for not tasting her cookies, be hurt when Angel runs off and doesn't pay for her food/bumps into her/whatever, then Angel would feel guilty. She wouldn't like Len's appearance, scoring her points with Exile. And Len would also appreciate such a cute, kind, and innocent girl since she wouldn't attack him.

* * *

**Name: Equinox, Quin( Sean Tenzuko)**

Personality: Quin is a ray of sunshine, He always have this easy-going smile that can even the most grumpiest person couldn't resist to go along with him; though it can become really irritating because he loves to tease and a bit of a jerk to his friends. But he loves to make his friends laugh and smile til it hurts to do so and kick-** to those who messes with them.  
Though to become his friend you'd have to get through his ice-cold Skepticism first. but if you do he's like a warm teddy bear that you'd love to hug or to punch around sometimes.  
He also know various of anime and cartoons in different genres, and mostly follows those with comedy, action and horror(and secretly watches tragic-love stories and cries about it but shhh).

When it comes to money; he can be charismatic and manipulative to get the best bargains. Though he's poor handling it so better have someone else to be the team's accountant.

When it comes to over-flowing Fangirls; he would distract them by the most cliche way by pointing at other direction, shouting something so inane people have to look and Ollies out the scene as fast as their legs could carry them(y'know before the wolves know they were tricked and chases after them with a vengeance).

when it comes in real life, his finishing his college degree on journalism and live alone in his apartment. He's still a ray of sunshine and a jerk though, but he is more subtle in his ways.

Quirks:

- a huge cornball, for all the jokes he spew sometimes. (some of them can be the cheesiest and corniest at the time)

- a gambler, though he's quite good at it. He can be quite a show-off and other people tend to get butt hurt. (So better not leave him alone with the money)

- a jerk, though he knows not to push it too far but if he accidently does. He would apologize and does everything he can to make it up.

Appearance:

In game, a beastman(Fox tribe); though not as beastly like wolf-gege. He's more humanoid in appearance than other usual beastman. but his ears, fangs and tail are hard to ignore though.

His brown hair is spiked back and few bangs to cover his forehead and sometimes his eyes and frame his face(for style's sake). When not obscured by his hair, his eyes are like yellow (like a fox, obviously).

His whole upper face; from his forehead to his nose is covered in short red fur and his lower is just tan skin.

His body built is almost the same in game and in real life; an Average built 5"7 footer. Though his second life is more defined in muscles.

His get up consist of a red scarf around his neck, black armored jacket with simple tunic underneath, black pant with a toe-steel combat boots and protective gear(such as knee pads and arm guards in it respective places) with his bow(grow-type weapon) and arrows over his shoulders.

In real life, so he simply wears sneakers, jeans and long sleeves shirts (usually rolled up to his elbows)and square-rimmed glasses.

his black hair is naturally unruly so he pony-tails it on top of his head. Brown eyes, with crows feet beside them. Pretty tan for a guy usually stay in indoors thought he's bit pudgy too.

Class: Archer, lvl 42

Strengths: a formidable force for he will rain valleys of arrows like no other. He specializes on fire element and high AOE and range attacks.

Though his main moves are powerful they take time to be ready again, so he switches to single shots with weaker attacks at the enemies' weak spots and quick to move in different spots to attack to avoid getting caught and he thinks on his feet. Effective against wood. he could also join in the fray by whacking them on the head.(him and angel  
could double team hahaha)

Weakness/flaws: when he gets trapped in enclose areas and surrounded by enemies; he could still whack them with his bow and punch them in the face but he could only go on for so long. ineffective against water. Cannot attack if target is out of sight. Immobilize if you throw him a bone (But he's a fox! and they love bones too). and since he's a jerk, this could lead to fights and waking up in rebirth points.

Reason: He acts as a big brother to everyone closer to him, he may be a jerk but he looks out and makes sure they're all safe (from fan girls or otherwise). He's also a formidable sparring partner, so he could help Zero on her practice. He can also distract the fangirls.

* * *

**Name : Ichijou Ren; Ren ( zhèn ai líng could also be read as chén ai líng / ****陳****藹****齡****)**

Gender : Female.

Race : ELF

Personality :

When people first associate with her, she's cold and not much talk. She will observe you first and try to figure out your character. But eventually when you are in her pack, she's actually friendly. She is a kind, straightforward, and trustworthy person. Although she is calm and coolheaded, not minding people opinion about her, it is actually not the case. Ren's actually a very lonely person as she felt no one can really understand her, even her family. She thinks being a girl have many disadvantages and becomes a tomboy.  
Her names can give 2 gender as 'Ren' is usually a male's name, although some females got it too. She hate a too-fangirls. She is okay with fangirl, but not a too hyperactive fangirls, making her a perfect bodyguard.

Even if she likes to see bishounen, she never let emotion get in her way of life. She always try to see everything in every way. Diplomatic.

She never underestimate female as she is one herself.

She gives favoritism to all female by being polite and acting all gentleman-like, and always helping a female in need. But not with male. Although in some cases and reasons that are reasonable for her, she will help them. Even so if the female is 'a **' in her mind then no help shall pass. As her family favors a male in many aspects, she fought to make her point that females can outdo males. This make her age-wise, even if other people are older than her, her life is actually full of harsh experience. She got her tough personality that way .

Away from her country as she study abroad, Ren stumbled upon the electronic shop when she decided to buy a new computer using her payment & savings as an seasoned author of some published novels. Her novels actually sold up quite good.

In the electronic shop, she accidentally look at the offer for buying the new set, a free software of the game of Second Life. She actually likes to play a game and decided to try it. She heard many people talking about the game, but have been quite busy with her novels deadlines.

Ren have an aura of a leader or captain(?) given that in real life, she got to deal with many subordinate (she would never admit that they are her teammates as she almost done the job herself). She is capable of managing a loud crowd and get them back on track with her angry aura and death glare, proofs that she is worthy of the title itself.

If she becomes your subordinate, she is the best you can get, as she is perfect secretary for you. Plus the fact that she is a very loyal person to the one she devotes to. She would take care of you like the an older sibling would. She is very protective to the person who she deems worthy of it.

Ren likes to draw if she got bored or upset. Besides drawing and painting, she likes to sing. Her voice can penetrate your soul because if she sings, she sings her heart out.

She found peace in a quiet situation and nightly stargazing.

Ren seems all nonchalant and acted like a deaf people but actually she is the most observant of all. She'll be the first one to notice any different things and cheered you up.

She is a good listener and will hear & understand your feelings. She is also a good adviser if you want her to give you some advises.

She is a romantic closet and always fall for a cool guys which making her always broken hearted as she wasn't brave enough to say it with words but more of action.

Quirks : Ren may look innocent even if you've ever talk to her. But she is not. She is actually a fujoshi(Yaoi or shounen ai manga lovers) in disguise, she hides it quite well.

She is mischievous in mind and likes to tease you a lot if you've became her friend. She is also kind of sadistic if it comes to someone who really annoyed her and get in her way

Appearance : Height 5' 6", Platinum light blonde hair. The right hair is shorter than the left one, back is long hair, tied in a hairband. Beauty+cool looks, sharp blue sky eyes, Light tan skin.

Wear (in game) :

-High collar(like gakuran) sleeveless robe, split under her stomatch, reach her mid-knee . (Azure/Light Cyan/ LightSkyBlue)

-Sleeveless black shirt underneath the robes( can be seen as the robes's sleeve was shorter & was zipped util middle breast ).

-Belt before the split (Papayawhip)

-Cropped jeans (rolled(grayish white)) almost dark black

-Shoulder(with blue gem) & hand bracelet, ring & single earrings in right, a necklace (all SILVER)

Real life :

Black+Brown+Brown light hair. Dark brown eyes. Light tan skin.

Ren prefers pants+T-shirt more than anything. She always feel weird when she wears skirts or dreeses, although when she wear a dress she actually looks elegant & beautiful.

Jeans(bootlegs), cargo pants, cropped trousers/short (knee) jeans.

T-shirt or shirt. Colour: White, SkyBllue, Black, OliveDrab, Salmon, DarkSlateGray

She likes to wear strapped sandal, sandals and sometimes trainers, sneakers. She dislikes high heels because it slows her down if she has some urgent things.

She couldn't wear cloth so fashionably but able to dress people so fashionably because of her artistic side.

Class : (Main) Archer (Silva Long bow, developing weapon)

Lvl : 42

Strength : Skills :

Uppercut | A punch to enemy's jaw in fast speed.

Time Barrier | Freeze enemy's time by 3 seconds using an invicible arrow.

Flying Wizard | a flying kick to the enemy, agility+3, attack+2

Time Barrier | Freeze enemy's time by 2 seconds.

Tornado Strike | An attack focus on sweeping the enemy clean, a wide range attack. But not too strong as the strength was divided.

Haste | Agility raised 5%, attack +2, Mana -20

Strom Flash | One target attack, great damage, but agility was reduced 7%, Mana -50

Holy Arrow | Mostly able to slow enemy down for 45 seconds(expt Holy element enemy= 15 seconds) Mana -75

etc

Special Skill (effected different things):

Artemis bellow| A light from the sky stuns the enemy for 10 seconds and arrows was rained onto the targeted area. While casting, the archer will be unable to move.

After effect Unable to cast this until 30 seconds cooldowns, health was reducted 30%, mana -160, agility -10%

Sagitarius's Justice | Great damage to one enemy, but must in archer's range, must not be under attacked or it'll be unvalid.

After effect cooldown 90 seconds, mana -150.

Weakness : Barely enough mana to cast Artemis between Sagitaruis in one turn, so she still needed to level up more bfore she could do both of them and continuously.

Flaw : Although most of the times, she is calm. At some times she is a bipolar and moody person. You better not make her angry cause using his sadistic streak, she will make you suffer. Never got on her bad sides and you'd not got lashed out by her. As DOOM might be your last thought.

Reasons : First time they met Ren is at the town. She helps a young female player from a running thief, stop him by using Time Barrier even though their distance is quite far. Ren shouts for people step away as she began to shoot for the thief.

There is no arrow at her hands yet , she pulls the string and suddenly an arrow-like light appeared. Not only that, her arrow hits exactly the thief's calf . The accuracy is too great to be true.

The 2nd time was in a restaurant(morn-noon)-bar(night) . Ren sings with untied  
hair and different cloth (dress) that they almost didn't recognize her. She  
looks, well, different.

Apperantly she was hired by the bar owner for a show.

Her voice might not rival Len but it was captivating people's heart with the heart wrenching song. {I thought the '7 Years of Love' looks good here} OR her voice wrenching tone. Nevertheless the the show was a big success.

When the squad went to search for her, she was already back at her usual gears, although her hair is slightly damp. When they asked her about it, she asked them what their level are and their destination.

After getting the answers, she observe the all the squad member. And giving one by one, some 'looks'. She lasted longer on Zero for a 3 seconds before going to others. This of course unnerved the group. Then they ... Hehe, still thought over there. But you've got a slight of it right?

Well, Ren is calm and cool-headed, intelligent, and good at making a new strategies, she could be the squad controller and siblings for Lan. Although acts like Yulian Dasao+Wicked+Wolf-nii at once.

* * *

**Wynter Breeze/ Bree (Gwen Lovegood)**

Personality: She is very quiet, until you get her alone with friends or drunk. She is a fierce fighter and can hold her alcohol well. She is wise and tends to dwell on things too long. She can read people like an open book. tends to spend most her money on alcohol and other useless things. Kind to friends and harsh (really harsh) on enemies. Nearly as demented as Prince.

Quirks: She will spend hours making and remaking battle plans. Likes big weapons used to maul enemies

Appearance: Race-elf, 5"6", curvy body type, purple hair, long hair almost to her thighs with sweep bangs, strikingly sky blue eyes, wears green tunic and brown breeches with a black belt, wears a thin leather band in her hair hippie style, and bangles

Real Life Appearance: Japanese-American, 5"2", curvy body type, boy short black hair with sweep bangs, grey eyes, tends to wear knee length shirts with tights or shorts underneath and converse

Class: level 42, Archer

Strengths: Uses a 6 foot yew long bow with special made arrows to shoot enemies in their faces for up to 220 yards away, 95% accuracy rate

Weaknesses: Waits too long to attack, likes her alcohol, and is a major prince fan

Reason for joining: She is a huge prince fan and doesn't even care that prince could be Zero, She will follow Zero to the end of the world if she is prince, they might accept her because her plans work 89% of the time or just because she is an awesome archer

* * *

**Melancholic; Mel (Chang Fou Ly)**

Personality: Mel at first seems to be a normal mage, but turn your back when she's angry, and off to the rebirth point you go! She loves reading old manga and is a huge bookworm. Mel is very protective of her friends, since she had none in the past, and hates people who think they can get away with everything. Furthermore, she tends to go into fits of over-protectiveness whenever Len is being attacked by fangirls (she happens to be one as well, but she's better at hiding it) because her friends are like the siblings she'll never get to have. She is practically a walking encyclopedia when it comes to war tactics and fighting strategies, and loves theorizing battles. Generally a kind person.

Quirks: Overprotective of everyone, is a closet fangirl. Treats everyone like siblings.

Appearance: Wears a mage robe that goes to her knees and knee-high boots, as well as several necklaces and bracelets. There is a single earring in her right ear, and she has dark indigo hair that is shoulder- length, green eyes, is 5'4'', and has light tan skin. In real life, her hair is dark brown and her eyes are still green. She wears mostly jeans and blouses that are red, orange, yellow, or green, as well as tennis shoes. She thinks that high-heels are the enemy of all women.

Class: Mage, Level 42

Race: Human

Strengths: Specializes in Wood (main) and Water (secondary) elements. She uses spells that have high AOE and range, as she likes to snipe enemies from afar. These spells are generally weak, but have a low cool-down time and thus she can send a barrage of them to decimate the enemy before they reach her. Aslo, she is very good with HP and MP stealing attacks. Is effective against Earth and Fire.

Weakness/Flaws: Is prone to fangirl attacks, and has low HP. Is weak against Wood (because she has Water element). Also, her overprotectiveness knows no bounds (to the point of finding out who everyone is in real life and protecting them as well!)

Reasons: she is protective of everyone, and can resist her fangirl attacks. She is very good with planning out battles or attack sequences. She is capable of thinking ahead in battle, and is always calm (unless someone tries to glomp Len) and can keep on telling what to do. Her ability to think of tactics on the spot can help Zero and everyone die less and help them during the tests for the Reborn Prince quest.

* * *

**Name: Ren Rey; Game name- Huī sè Yún ; nickname- Yun or Lazy**

Personality:

In short he is smart but lazy, he is the type of person that prefer to live peacefully without care of the thinks that are happening around him (because of this he has average grades ) that is until he or his friends are involved, he is very loyal to thus that are close to him, but he is having problems with socializing mostly because he has tendency to get into his dream world in this state he talks fights etc. but he remembers only parts of what he was doing that why he thinks it was part of his imagination, he don't talk a lot only when he must (short and precise answers) or when he is around his friends. He doesn't like when someone is trying to manipulate him into doing something that is against his principles or his friends' well beings.

When he is sleep deprived for a long time (about 5 hours a day for about week) he can become very violent until he don't get good night sleep (around 12-14 hours).

He gets his revenge on others in the most unexpected moments with very little work on his side after all he don't like losing energy and time on someone that don't think to much before acting (like saying something about 'that person' around his/her crush – if he had energy and wasn't lazy he would blackmail; or he trips-up 'that person' so he/she fell right into something smelly or he just shove 'IT' down the cliff).

When he was younger his father mead him learn aikido and how to fight with staff, in game he uses it with his electric element. He likes to read especially fantasy and mystery books.

Quirks: dream walking/fighting with memory lapses, he has weakness for small animals, little kids and sweets with chocolate, violent when sleep deprived, when he begins something he needs to complete it.

Appearance:

RL: Black wavy hair past his arms, grey eyes and black rimmed glasses, 180 centimeters, toned body from his years of training material arts, sun kissed skin, he wears mostly black jeans and shirts in dark colors (like grey, black, dark green, etc.) with black sneakers or brown leather boots to the middle of his shin similar in style to cowboys boots.

SL: race-demon, he looks the same like in real life but without glasses and with dark green almost black hair, he has black skin-tight pants and turtle-neck with no sleeve, black lather shoes, on his waist brown belt with brown pouch, he has long (to his ankles) emerald green mage robe with hood he wears it open so it looks more like coat/cloak, silver cross in Celtic style around his neck

Class:

Mage, level 42

Strengths:

Electric (main) he uses it to make around himself or others (something similar to cloak, cocoon or barrier) that shock when touched if he uses more strength it can even give different degree of burns, he can use thunder strike(thunder from the sky) for big areas- AOE (if there are his allies they'll meet at the rebirth point).

Wind (2nd) he can cast spells with big range and AOE it can cut enemy severely when highly concentrate (for example when concentrated in one spot/person/thing it can cut it in half) it gets weaker with bigger areas but still give cuts to the enemy making them bleed a lot weakening them with every seconds.

Weaknesses/Flaws:

He is weak with earth element, because of his dream walking he easily gets lost and he annoys others with his one word answers, he is bad at socializing, when he sees small animal he wants to cuddle or at last pet it even if its dangerous animal

Why would the current party accept the new member?

He is loyal and when he thinks about someone as his friend he would help that person as much as he can and if they let him of course but he won't get in the way when he knows that his friend is strong enough then he only make sure that he/she overcome his/her hurdle and be there to give his support when needed.  
With every level his spells become stronger and more dangerous he can control their strength, the only one he can't control is thunder strike, and he can use material arts when he is in dire situations. He is smart and with few easy words he can explain plans even to the Zero when she has problems with understanding their plan of action.  
He is smart – he first thinks what to do in the easiest, safest and fastest way then he do it, he don't jump blindly with no plan of action that is if he isn't dream-walking at the moment.  
When he begins something he'll make sure to see it to the end.

* * *

**Game name: Lost Wanderer (RN-Daisuke Nakamura)**

Gender :male

Personality: He's kindhearted and very shy but can be creepy at times, almost like a ghost, has poor sense of direction, in real life he took a whole lot of fighting styles and learned how to use lots of different weapons, the only reason he is not a warrior is because he got lost and went to the mage quest instead

Quirks: every time he gets lost he finds rare and valuable items and if given a weapon his opponents are skewed

Race: demon

Appearance: he wears a black trench-coat with a blue shoulder plate on his left arm, blue jeans, black gym shoes with blue skulls on them, has long blond hair, light skin, his eyes are left blue and the right blood red, is 6ft tall, and beautiful black feathery almost ghostly wings coming out his back, is very hot but has a very creepy aura

Class: Mage, level 42

Strengths: Special elements Dark (main) and Light (secondary). his dark spells weaken the enemy and can create a zones that can both greatly weaken the enemy's stats but a the same time power up himself a his team, his light spells help heal himself when he has a weapon and is beating the daylights out of someone, his main specialty is that he can use almost any kind of weapon

Weakness: his fear of being alone

Reason: there are three reasons they would let him stay: #1 he keeps finding rare and valuable stuff they can sale for lots of money, #2 because of his amazing fighting and magical abilities, and finally #3 he gave them the most adorable puppy dog look and begged them to join when he heard they needed another member

* * *

**Exile: To the authors of the OCs: I need you to PM me, please, for important information.\**

**Review?**


	6. Real Life Selves Part 2

**Exile: Hihi! As usual, I don't own sadly enough. By the way, just reminding you that there is no OC x Canon in this fic.**

**Spoiler-worthy questions (Preview is obtained only if you get all four answers right):**

**1) Why do you think Sen said that Rei is a guy?**

**2) What other blond anime character has a height-complex? (Come on guys, he's famous for his short rants!)**

**3) What was the newest chapter of the 1/2 Prince Novel at Prince Revolution? (It. Was. Awesome.)**

**4) Black Order? What anime has "Black Order" as the name of its most important organization? (*Whistles*)**

* * *

The Prince's Rebirth

Chapter 6: Real Life Selves

_Feng Xiao Lan / Zero POV_

"Are you sure you want to do this, sis?" Feng Yang Ming asked me nervously. I stood at the doorway of our house, nervous. I hadn't stepped through this door at all for the last 5 weeks…I hadn't seen everyone for the past 5 weeks other than Yang Ming or my parents…and now here I was, about to go to school. _I can't show any emotion! I … can't let Gui realize me!_

I nodded slowly, afraid to speak. "I'll go. I'm not Prince anymore. He died. But I'll always remember what it was like to be Prince." With that I hesitantly stepped over the doorway, out of the apartment. "I can't let Prince's death keep weighing on me. I am Zero now. But I will become the Reborn Prince eventually, so at that time…" with every word, I strode towards the bus that I hadn't stepped on for 5 weeks. "…at that time, I'll let them know that I was Prince!" Yang Ming rolled his eyes, hiding a smirk.

"Geez, sis, no need to be so melodramatic," he commented. "Although I really am glad you're back to normal now." He muttered to himself. I boarded the bus, focusing on every step. _I can't be a shut-in. I cannot let my "death" affect my life. I need to live Second Life as Zero and reclaim my place so I can fill this hole in my life. I miss everyone, but I'm going to wait._

When we got the university, I took a deep breath and hurried to my class, Yang Ming following me. When we arrived, I slid open the door, tentatively. _How are they going to react? Did they forget me? _

"LAN! LAN, YOU'RE BACK!" Lu Jing cried, jumping an impossible 13 meters from her desk to glomp me. Yu did the same, and both of them tackled me to the hard linoleum. Professor Min looked up from the book he had been reading aloud.

All of a sudden, the whole class swarmed out at me, all asking things like, "Lan, where were you?" and, "Feng Lan, are you feeling better now?" The clamor was so loud, but it only took a single clap from Gui to quiet them down. Making his way towards me, he extended a hand.

"Hello, Student Feng Lan. Welcome back to class." He said warmly. I froze, all the memories of our times together…me meeting him for the first time, fighting in the Adventurer's Tournament, going against the Four Heavenly Kings… the tears threatened to leak out. _You fool! You've already come all this way; cry later! Resume your normal life now! _I bit my lip and bowed.

"I'm glad to be back in class, Professor." I said formally, not meeting his eyes while shaking his hand. "I am sorry for my absence."

Gui opened his mouth to say something, but 2 eerily familiar voices yelled to my right, "Zero!" I froze. "That's Zero!" Everyone looked down the hall to see two "guys", one with black hair tied in a short ponytail and even darker eyes, and a redhead with brown eyes. The way that they stood and stared at me made me want to go into a shame corner. _That's…EXILE AND FAI?_

"What the heck is with today?" Exile asked in bewilderment. "First I run into Fai, and then you too?" My jaw dropped at the sound of "his" voice. _She- she sounds like a man!_

"Are you really Zero? Because if you are, then the fact that not only I run into Exile, but you too…is this a dream?" Fai questioned, looking at me intently. My classmates looked at the "bishies" with either hearts in their eyes or evil glares. Gui was staring at us with much amusement.

"Zero?" he said in a friendly manner, "Who is that?"

"My Second Life username." I mumbled. "I've only started playing again recently." Yun, Ling, Yang Ming, and Fai gave me warning glances.

"Playing again? What do you mean?" Gui asked. "Also, I thought that your username was Princess Xiao Xiao last time we talked about the game." I shook my head rapidly as Fai started snickering._ Shut up, you XXX! I didn't know what else to suggest at the time!_

"Um…my character was destroyed by the HD virus several weeks ago," I said quickly, "and so I recreated one a few weeks ago and started playing again. These two are my new teammates."

"It's nice to meet you, Professor Min." Fai said suavely, bowing. "I am one of your new students this semester. Please take care of me." Gui looked at Fai appraisingly and nodded as well.

"We can reminisce later," he said. "What's important is to start the class." We all filed into the classroom, many of the girls staring at the "guys" lustfully. _Exile, why do I feel sorry for you..?_ "Please introduce yourselves."

Exile bowed, "My name is Hitoride Ryuukei. I go by Rei for short. Please take of me." All at once the row of girls near the back (Yang Ming referred to them as "Gui's Fangirls") started whispering amongst themselves, "I am 22 years old, transferred here from Tokyo University, and am majoring in Creative Writing. My birthday is August 13th. Any questions?" One of the girls near the back raised their hand, sparkles in her eyes.

"Are you single?" she blurted. The class grew silent, and Rei blinked several times before shaking "his" head adamantly.

"Hitoride, please take the empty seat near Yang Ming, please." My brother waved his hand to point out the seat, and Rei sat down. Then Fai stood up. The background noise grew even louder. It was rare for two bishies to transfer in on the same day, after all.

"My name is Teritsukeru Kaen. I am 24, and I'm majoring in Journalism. I've been attending, but I just transferred from the Business major. My birthday is July 10th. Please take care of me." When the same girl as before raised her hand, he quickly added, "And yes, I'm single." There were now sparkles glimmering throughout the classroom, and I facetabled.

_I wonder how they'll react when it's revealed that Rei is a girl?_

* * *

"My name is Cao Cai Sen, and I'm 22. Pleased to meet you." The short blond man said, bowing to Zhuo Bin Lin. "I'll be working here for my graduate studies." Zhuo blinked several times, pondering things to himself.

_How is it possible to be conducting graduate studies at such a young age? We're 8 years apart! And how in the world is he so short? _Lin Bin examined Sen from all angles, trying to demystify him before asking, "How tall are you, exactly?"

Sen went red with anger. "Excuse me for being 156 centimeters! It's not my fault that I inherited my mother's shortness!" Lin Bin stepped back.

"I'm sorry. I simply haven't seen anyone at your age that is only 156 centimeters tall," he explained honestly. Sen scowled and stepped swiftly around the large desk. "What are you studying?"

"Affect on different forms of calcium on growth of spongy bone." Sen said curtly. "I'll be testing nut-produced milks against conventional cow or goat milk." Lin Bin raised an eyebrow.

_It seems that he's rather… touchy about his height. _He laughed to himself, Sen sending him poisonous glares the whole time.

* * *

The moment Gui's class ended, I staggered out, backpack full of notes from my other classmates. Half of them were how-are-you's and the other half was questions about the "bishies". I prayed that someone would figure out Rei's gender soon… before she suffered. I lifted my head up and my jaw nearly dropped again. Down the corridor, Len and Zhuo-gege walked by, Len apparently was fuming mad and Zhuo-gege looking around anxiously. I stopped in mid-step.

_My head can't stand meeting Gui and Wicked in the same day! _I screamed, the memory flood once again assailing me. Meeting him on the bus, falling off the cliff and being recognized, the battle in Adventurer's Tournament, fighting Inferno… the tears threatened to well out, so I spun on my heel and dashed for the infirmary.

"Wait, sis, where are you going?" Yang Ming called.

"Infirmary!" I yelled back, turning the corner and running towards the room. _Wait…Wolf-dage works in the infirmary! Noooooooo! _Too late, as I was already at the door. It was either turn back and possibly run into Zhuo-gege, who was sure to be looking for me if Yang Ming had told him that I was here today, or run into Wolf-dage in the clinic.

"Student, are you 'kay?" another familiar female voice asked around a mouthful noodles.

I turned my head, jaw dropping.

The woman gaped as well, the noodles dropping from her mouth back to swim in the bowl, "ZERO?" she shrieked incredulously.

"KUROTENSHI?" The bowl of noodles were placed on a table and I was promptly glomped by a woman with dark blue hair, gray eyes, and was as least 20 centimeters shorter than me, wearing a white coat. "What- what the heck?"

"It's really you, Zero?" she asked excitedly, and jumped when I nodded.

"I thought that you live in B city…" I stammered, mouth going dry. "Why are you here?"

"I moved for work!" she explained, tugging me into the infirmary. "I work as a doctor in the school system, and I just got transferred over here!"

"What about the other doctor?" I questioned, fear of running into yet another Odd Squad member disappearing slowly. "And exactly how old are you?"

Kurotenshi shook her head with a sigh and folded her arms. "Zero, I'm 35. My name is Wu Jin An. So don't be surprised that I already have graduated from university with my doctorate degree."

_One second, you're telling me that the eat-and-runner is 35? That's crazy! She looks exactly like she does in-game but still fangirls like a little girl? I thought adults are supposed to responsible! _"Isn't Jin An a guy's name?" I commented weakly, still trying to process that our priest was far older than me and yet acted like a teen. She nodded, an annoyed expression appearing.

"My parents decided that they're first child would be named Jin An no matter what, because her name is Wu Jin Lan and his is Wu Xue An. They put their names together to name me Wu Jin An. What's your name?" she explained slowly. I was flabbergasted.

"You- My name is Feng Xiao Lan. I'm a student here…" I said. "So you and the other doctor switch shifts?" she nodded.

"Why… oh, are you interested in him?" she asked coyly. I shook my head promptly, a disgusted look coming across my face.

"Wolf-dage is like a brother to me! And he's already married to YuLian-dasao!" I said quickly. Jin An's eyebrows practically rocketed to her forehead.

"Seriously? Oh wait…so that guy is also the one and only Ugly Wolf from Odd Squad?" she shrieked, fangirl mode on. I paled.

_Forgive me, Wolf-dage. _I thought apologetically. "Yeah, why? He was our priest, and he's the best priest in Second Life!" I declared. Her eyes widened even more.

"Do you think he would give me advice on healing more efficiently?" she whispered. I nearly fell over. "He's one of the most famous priests ever! There's a statue of him in the starter priest temple! There are statues of all the Odd Squad members near the class NPCs! He's known as "The Strongest Priest", too! He's like the role model for all priests!"

In the university's café, Doctor Li Tian Lang sneezed loudly. _Is someone talking about me? _He thought while blowing his nose.

* * *

_Ryuukei Hitoride / Exile Wrath POV_

"So Kaen, why haven't you been on lately? My cousin and I joined your team a few days ago." I inquired the redhead next to me, who currently was chewing a mouthful of French baguette. He stopped chewing and his face turned a slight shade of blue. "Are you okay! Do you need to Heimlich? I know the Heimlich if you need! Oh and CPR." When he didn't answer, I curled my hand into a fist and hit his upper back with a medium amount of force, and he suddenly started coughing. "Are you okay?" he nodded rapidly.

"I'm fine." He answered in a shaky voice. It was lunch time, and we had gone to the University's most famous hangout, Black Order Café. The coffee was top-notch and the sandwiches were the best, not to mention that the chef's were all renowned…in the education industry. They were the cooking instructors from the Culinary Arts section of XXX University. Kaen had decided to give me a campus tour while I looked around for Sen, who was highly prone to being glomped by fangirls. "Wait… you joined our team?" I nodded, a smile appearing.

"Yeah. And we registered it, even though we don't have a 6th member yet. Don't worry; it's not a lame name or anything." I said whilst eyeing the sandwich a waitress was carrying to our table.

"I'm almost afraid to ask." Kaen muttered. I cocked my head to the side, seeing Sen sitting with another guy a few tables away, sipping coffee he knew wouldn't help him grow any taller while looking around anxiously. "Rei?" Kaen asked, craning his head around to see who I was staring at.

"Sen, Sen, I'm over heeeeeere!" I hollered, turning several heads to me. I winced, Kaen grimaced at the volume, and Sen spat out his coffee, turning towards me and scrambling over. "Sen, Kaen. Kaen, this is my cousin Sen!" I introduced. Sen put down his food at our table and I could have sworn that he glared death at Kaen. "This guy is the thief I told you about. He's on the team too!" Meanwhile, the guy that had been with Sen picked up his tray and came over to our table, "Oh, hi, who are you?"

"How much sugar have you had?" Sen interrupted. I blinked and shrugged.

"I think Rei put about 5 teaspoons of sugar and two tablespoons of creamer into his coffee." Kaen commented. I opened my mouth to correct him, but Sen's glare abruptly disappeared and he suspiciously smiled broadly at Kaen.

"Oh. Rei, stop eating so much sugar!" he chided, then turned to the taller guy, "this is Zhuo Lin Bin, and I'm working with him on my graduate studies. Zhuo, this is my cousin Ryuukei." I nodded respectfully, but when this Zhuo person sat down, my neck hairs raised.

_Why is he staring at me with a confused expression? And why do I feel like we're surrounded by a bunch of wolves?_ I thought frantically looking around us. I barely stopped myself from screaming like a little girl at the hungry expressions of the women that were packed into the café. "Uh…Sen…we might want to move somewhere else…"

Zhuo Lin Bin verbally ran me over. "May I ask if you are a guy or a girl? I'm unable to tell." My right eye twitched with annoyance, but when I opened my mouth to answer, Sen ran me over.

"Rei's a guy," he declared.

_Errrrrr…NOT COOL SEN, NOT COOL! YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I DO THAT I'M FEMALE, YOU STUPID BISHIE-SPARKLY COUSIN! _I screamed in annoyance. "No, I'm fe-"

"Rei, what were you saying?" Kaen interrupted. I was on the verge of fuming. "Something about moving?" I blinked.

_I'll get revenge later, Sen. _I vowed darkly. Turning back to the matter of imminent doom by fangirls, I repeated, "We should move. I'm afraid that we're attracting too much attention." When Kaen and Zhuo wore confused expressions, I lowered my voice and added, "We. Are. Surrounded. By. Hormone. Driven. Fan. Girls."

Simultaneously, we stood up and dashed away from the café, me carrying the food and the other three with absolutely frightened expressions. _Huh, so that Zhuo guy seems to have bad memories with fangirls as well. Oh wait…now that I think about it, isn't that WICKED FROM INFINITE BAND! _I realized when we had sprinted through half the campus to evacuate to a safer spot. Suddenly, the guy veered away from us, calling someone's name.

"Lan? Xiao Lan?" he yelled. Lan looked up from the conversation she was absorbed in with a slightly-familiar-looking person. Said person perked up, looked straight at Kaen, Sen, and I, stood up and sprinted past Zhuo, tackling Sen to the ground.

"KAGAMINE SAMAAAAAA!" she squealed into his ear.

* * *

**Exile: This will pick up next chapter. I'm loving Kurotenshi's fangirl mode XDD. Gotta feel sorry for Sen / Len.**

**By the way~ I'm looking for a beta~**

**And just a question...what do you guys think is better? Sen/Rei or Kaen/Rei? **

**This is the last chance to vote! ^_^ The winner will be introduced next chapter!**

**Review? (By the way, the limit is 2 votes per person.)**


	7. Reality Strikes

**Name meanings:**

**Teritsukeru Kaen (Japanese: 照りつける 火炎) "Teritsukeru" can mean "to ignite" or "to shine" and "Kaen" is "flame/blaze".**

**Cao Cai Sen (Mandarin: 曹蔡千) - "Cao" and "Cai" are common Chinese names. "Sen" is written as "thousand", and he uses the Japanese pronunciation.**

**Hitoride Ryuukei (Japanese: 一人で 流刑) "Hitori-de" means "alone" and "Ryuukei" is "to be exiled".**

**Wu Jin An (Mandarin: 武 金 安) - "Wu" Is a common last name, though the pronunciation is the same as the word for "martial". "Jin" written like that means "Gold", and An with that character is "safe".**

* * *

The Prince's Rebirth

Reality Strikes

"Sen? Cao Cai Sen , are you okay?" Rei said frantically, shaking the person I supposed was her cousin. Jin An was off to the side, dazed by a quick strike to the neck from Rei, and Kaen was sitting there in a TREE, staring at all of us.

_There's definitely something wrong with these guys…they're even worse than the old Odd Squad! _I thought to myself. _All we're missing is someone like Yulian-dasao to take care of scaring all of us…_

"Lan, how are you?" Zhuo-gege asked worriedly, clutching me in his arms and stroking my hair."I haven't seen you since you…died. Yang Ming told me that you were…" at the reminder of my former life, I burst into tears."Xiao Lan? I didn't mean to remind you…" Zhuo-gege just held me tighter, but was suddenly kicked away by Rei, who clearly had an anger mark popping out on her forehead.

"How do you know Feng Lan?" she asked brusquely, glaring fiercely at him. Zhuo-gege's eyes narrowed as he stood up to glare back at her.

"That should be my question," he replied. Lightning flashed between them and my tears dried up as I tried to hold in my immense laughter at Zhuo-gege's confusion.

"Gege, this is my new teammate," I introduced, "Her name is-"

"Hitoride Ryuukei. I know already; his cousin is using the same lab as I am for our graduate studies," Zhuo-gege cut in, "How are you?"

"Lan, it's time to get back to class," Kaen commented worriedly, glancing between Rei and Zhuo-gege. "Besides, these two look ready to blow up at any second." At this, the two of them whipped their heads around to glare at the redhead.

"We are not going to blow up like human bombs!" they chorused.

"It's scientifically impossible," Zhuo-gege said in an intelligent tone.

Rei rolled her eyes, "Are you sure about that? It's called concealed weapons, fool!" Their eyes connected once again and she scowled. "Sen! C'mon, my classes are over for today! Let's go home!"

At this, Sen perked up from whatever fanboy-induced daze he had been in, reminding me of a dog listening to its master._ That actually makes perfect sense. In game Len has Exile to protect him, but he does just absolutely everything she says. Outside of the game, they're cousins and if what he's wearing isn't a puppy-dog face then I don't know what it. _I mused.

"What is your in-game name?" Zhuo-gege snapped. I gulped. I had never seen him this upset before.

Rei stood up, and I noticed she was tall enough to look Zhuo-gege in the eye. "I'm Exile Wrath. Lan's name is Zero."

"The moment I see you, we are dueling," he said in a challenging tone.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

The rest of the day had gone by smoothly. I had been missed by many of my classmates, and Kaen was being shown around by me and Yang Ming. Zhuo-gege had stormed to his laboratory after lunch, and Rei and Sen had probably left to go to their home. I had been glomped countless times by my friends, especially by Jing and Wen. They made me promise to add them the moment I logged on, and I guaranteed no promises.

_I will do this with my own strength. I'm not going to cheat by getting my old friend's help. _I silently reminded myself. Yang Ming was in his room and I was staring at my notebook full of battle strategies for my new team to use. _Speaking of which... that team name we came up with... *sweat*_

* * *

_Second Life_

The moment I logged in that day, I noticed, to my horror, that Exile and Len had somehow tied me up the moment my avatar appeared and were now glaring daggers at me. If looks could kill, I'd have been killed by now. "Errr, hi again!" I remarked, trying to act oblivious to binds around me. They were very uncomfortable. I looked up and frowned, "Hey, why is my sword embedded in the tree trunk and why is the ability Power of the Wood Spirit activated?" I questioned uneasily.

"Len's Thief-type mode has an ability called _Hijack._ It allows him to use one of his opponent's abilities as long as he is holding their weapon. In this case, your sword and _Power of the Wood Spirit._" I gulped at the tone she was using, and Len was looking at me as if I was a doomed soul.

"So…why am I like this?" I asked with a grimace. _I don't recall pissing them off today…_

"Zero, what the hell is going on? Kaen told us that you're royalty or something. I don't believe that. But with the hype going on lately about the "Reborn Prince" world quest and the fact that it seems that you and Wicked are on highly good terms with each other, to the point that he challenged me to a _duel_, makes me question the circumstances," Rei asked in a flat, no-nonsense-or-I'll-kill-you tone.

"Hmm…I think I heard some voices around here…" an unfamiliar voice muttered nearby. The three of us froze as we looked around in desperation at our messy, messy campsite.

We were in the Tou Flatlands, a prairie on the outskirts of Diamond Dragon City, or as I knew it, home to Winter Triumph, the holder of _my _Black Dao and the scariest cheapskate of all time. The problem was that since the Tou Flatlands were under _his _jurisdiction, he collected a tax from all players that hunted and camped there. In fact, the primary job of his city guards was to collect money from the citizens! Our team was no exception, as we were currently in said Tou Flatlands. And worst of all, Kurotenshi being the flake she was when food wasn't involved, came up with the great idea of sneaking around the barrier which automatically subtracted 15 gold coins from our inventories the moment we walked in. The problem was that the barrier also immediately gave you the item _Tou Flatlands Hunting Ticket,_ which was required for you to hunt there. If a guard found you without one…the effect were definitely NOT pretty.

_In short, our team is going to be murdered in cold blood if that person is a city guard! _We thought simultaneously, Len releasing me and all three of us diving into the bushes. I swore quietly under my breath as I manipulated the party inventory and put all the camping items back in. 3 pots, 5 sleeping bags, and several other miscellaneous items later, the bushes rustled once again as we watched with abject horror when a complete platoon of city guards tromped in the clearing where our camp had been.

"Sir, there's no one here," one guy towards the back called out, making an impassive-looking guy at the head of the group turn around, examining the area with interest and suspicion.

I held my breath, and out of the corner of my eye, I spied Exile and Len manipulating their stats windows for some reason, and I stared at them intensely (_It's really hard to stare without moving your head..._)

The guards grew closer and closer, yet I was unable to move lest I made too much noise and got caught. _Shit, I am never listening to Kurotenshi's advice ever again!_

"We're outta here!" Exile PMed me. I only had enough time to read it when she threw a handful of exploding tags across the clearing, distracting the guards with a spectacular explosion. When I heard the first earth-shaking boom, I realized that she and Len had been placing Sound buffs on the tags to strengthen them to the point they blew out the guards' eardrums. _I'm pretty sure they blew out mine. _With that last thought I sprinted after the duo, inwardly cursing Winter.

However, unluckily for us, several guards noticed us, even with the great earsplitting booms. They chased after us, and some dropped to their knees and got in shooting positions, aiming great longbows and crossbows. Len was the first to react with his Mage—type Sound attack – _Strafing Hawks_. The platoon quickly focused on the dive-bombing birds than pursuing us (mostly because they couldn't see us through the huge flock of hawks. With each level, _Strafing Hawks _summoned another 25 hawks. And the terrible thing for Sen's enemies was that he had used it to the point it was level 36. Do the math.)

Exile, on the other hand, took a look at me and ran over, tapping my shoulder. "I'm casting _Track _on you. It'll be better if we split up! We'll regroup later. Meet us at the Third Gate of Diamond Dragon." With that, she cast a quick enchantment and veered away. I made a dive into the tall grass, getting on my hands and knees to move quickly as possible and stay out of sight from the guards.

It was at times like this that I really remembered Odd Squad. The starting position for Lolidragon's signature _Burrowing _technique was the same as the dive I had just executed. Heading towards the bamboo thickets, I tried to make no sound. The sounds of the guards' feet were coming closer, and when the bamboo was only a meter away, I made a short dash into the greenery, colliding painfully into another person.

"Shit!"

"Gack!"

I was knocked backwards into a bamboo, but instead of faltering, I used my dao to swing to the side of the bamboo and hide behind a clump of lemongrass. Peering at the pair of feet in front of me, I whispered urgently, "Please don't tell anyone I'm here!"

"..." the feet moved away, and there was a rustle as the person went through the bamboo.

Moments later, I heard the guards rush towards the plants. A soft voice, much different than that of the guards, "Please do not make so much noise, please. Your sounds have been making the rare Wintergrass Rabbit that I have been hunting here hide."

"Well, have you seen an elf with black hair and silver highlights running this way?" the troop leader demanded.

"No, I have not. I have been hunting on the edge of the bamboo for a while now. I believe I saw someone that matches that description running towards the city," the soft voice answered.

There was muttering among the platoon, and then the captain clapped a hand on the person's shoulder. "Thank you for assisting us!" then they all began sprinting towards the city walls, intent on catching "me".

When the sounds faded away, the person's feet came back in front of my bush. "They have departed."

I leapt up, shaking my hair to get rid of the leaves that had gotten stuck there. "Thank you very much!" I stated gratefully. "You've really saved me there!"

I looked up, seeing that my helper was a male archer with a longbow and a crossbow slung over his back with an intricate quiver full of strangely fletched arrows. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "It is okay. I do not mind helping persons in genuine need. But may I ask why you were running from the city guards?"

I laughed quietly, scratching the back of my head. "Well, you see, one of my teammates is not thrilled when it comes to paying tolls, and we wanted to hunt a bit around here before going into the city. Another teammate has a moderate barrier-dispelling skill that got us through before it closed again. So... yeah," I explained.

He dipped his head politely. "Very well. Have a good day, and good luck dodging the city guards, miss."

I bowed back, calling as he walked off, "Thanks again, mate!"

With another swipe of my dao, I felled a weak Blade Insect as I continued walking towards the city gates, Firebun running to pick up the loot. I had managed to get out of the thickets a little while ago by wandering around and then hacking my way through half of the bamboo in order to get away from the Jade Dragon that I had walked under and woke up. It had been beautiful to see, really (Wacko and DanDan would have loved to glimpse it; I could just imagine them gushing over its jade scales) but it was a hidden Level 75 boss, and I had no intentions of dying, so I had fled. However, I had mowed down a whole lot of trees in order to escape.

_Hopefully Winter doesn't figure out who did it and charge me for damages! _I prayed.

"Finally found you!" Fai exclaimed, popping out from the undergrass. Taken by surprise, I nearly hit him on the head with my dao, but stopped just in time. "Right when I logged on a little while ago, Exile sent me a PM and told me the situation. I rode a mount towards here from Black Tortoise City."

I looked at him oddly. "Then why aren't you going to meet up with us at the Third Gate of Diamond Dragon City?" I asked in confusion.

He sighed, "Lolidragon told me you have a horrible sense of direction. And besides, you're headed to the barrier, the opposite direction of Diamond Dragon," he added pointedly.

I turned on my heel, marching off to the way that he had pointed out. "Wrong way!"

The rogue couldn't help but palm his face. "I didn't think my Cousin told me that Prince's sense of direction was _this bad._"

"Oi, I heard that, Fai!" I threw the rogue a skill-strike to the shoulder.

* * *

"Thank God I cast _Track _on you," Exile muttered as she and Len weaved their way through the crowd. "What took so long?"

"I found her walking the wrong direction, away from the city," Fai explained, tossing a thumb in my direction. He smiled brightly, the way a con-man would. "If I may ask, how are the benefits of being in our party so far?"

Exile shrugged as her cousin, seeming to recognize Fai, gave the Death Glare of Utter Annihilation. "It's good. Zero cooks fairly well, and we've been levelling up nicely the past couple of days," stepping up, she extended her hand for a handshake. "I look forward to working with you, Fai Blaze."

They exchanged a brief, manly handshake (it was was the kind that you'd think you'd see from partners in the Triads) and Len was oozing malicious intent. "So what are we doing now, Zero? Should we wait for Angel?" he gritted to me, hands twitching as he tried to send Fai to the rebirth point by glaring.

I thought for a moment. "Nah! Let's go look for the NPC for the Eastern Continent's Reborn Prince quest!" I exclaimed, putting my fist to my palm. "Kuro should be able to meet up with us later. In the meantime, I'll check out the quest to get my gear back!"

Fai watched in disbelief as the warrior thoughtlessly walked away, towards Banking Triangle where the quest was. "She-"

A bounty hunter clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Yo, Fai, mind explaining what she meant by 'getting her gear back'?" Exile grinned congenially.

_I'm gonna die, aren't I..._ Thinking fast, "Uh, it's nothing!" Seeing a suspicious glint in Exile's eyes, "By the way, what's our team name?" he inquired, trying to change the subject.

"Look at your screen. By the way, Zero chose the characters at random, so don't compla-"

"新千気- One Thousand New Air? WHAT KIND OF NAME IS THIS?!"

Len butted in, ticked off, "It's supposed to be read as _Thousand Air_, actually."

The rogue decided at that moment to go to a nearby store and commit vandalism via banging his head repeatedly on the window.

I slammed by hands on the desk for the Reborn Prince quest in irritation. "What do you mean, I can't accept the quest!?" I demanded. _That's completely irrational!_

The NPC looked at me coldly, and gestured at my chest. I looked down, saw nothing. When I continued to glare at the burly man, he snapped, "You're a woman!"

"So?" _What's wrong with my gender, you XXX?_

"Only _males_ can sign up for the quest," he stated each word slowly, as if talking to a little child. "You're obviously a girl. Go run home to your hubby, girlie."

_That- That's sexist! _I was flabbergasted, and stayed a stone statue as a male holyman warrior stepped up and received the quest to win _my _gear without any hassling. He looked at me derisively, and attempted to grab my chest when, out of sheer irritation, I grabbed his wrist and tossed him into the stall, on top of the NPC. _Take that! I'm a female, but I'm also a warrior with 78 strength right now! _Drawing my current dao, a light, thin silver blade that was quite good for stabbing mobs unawares, I gave them my most Princely demeaning gaze, holding the tip to the NPC's throat. "Quest. Now. Or regret it."

"I-I can't," he stammered weakly.

I flicked the blade, "accidentally" cutting the player-I-threw's jugular vein and carotid artery, sending him off the the rebirth point. The quest NPC paled. "Why?" I added a Princely Blood-Elf smile.

"I-It's in my orders. Only the City Lord can grant such an exception," seeing my thoughtful look, he hastily added, "It has to be done by Winter Triumph personally."

I scowled, stepping off of the NPC. "And what's the likelihood of him _personally approving_?"

He gave an arrogant smirk before lifting his fingers up, snapping and yelling, "Guards!"

I bolted, scrambling to a roof like Fai had painstakingly taught me (so then I could go on top of buildings to figure out where I was and not get lost in cities) and was about to jump to another building when a rope lassoed me, tugging me to the ground roughly. I tried not to yell. _Hey! Don't you know it's impolite to handle a lady like that?_

"This girl was being a public disturbance and demanding to be given the Reborn Prince quest," the NPC stated smugly.

The guards surrounding me froze for a moment- "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" one howled, doubled over. "THAT'S HILARIOUS."

"You must be mistaking your sex, little lady," another grinned, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

The group collapsed, as well as a couple of passerbys. Cooly, as civilly as possible, "I am not mistaken. Limiting the Reborn Prince quest to only males is sexist!" I retorted.

"It's because Prince was a _guy_, which you clearly are not," they said in a mockingly patient tone. "Now off to the dungeons with you until you can tried and fined by our Lord."

"You little XXXs! I'm going to XXX your tongues, stuff them up your XXX, and then XXX every single one of you into finely XXX-ed XXX!" I roared, causing the whole lot of them to pale and stand, petrified.

The ropes around me were cut away and Fai grabbed me by the back of my collar, hoisting me up over his shoulder and sprinting away from the scene. Exile slapped a seal on our backs, (_Unnoticeable Haze_, 50 MP, causes target to be unnoticed by mobs, NPCs, and players for 10 minutes) gesturing to us to get away.

"Fai."

"What, Zero?" he snarled, obviously in a bad mood. "You need to say something meaningful after causing a major fuss in front of at least a hundred people?"

"I know how to get the quest without meeting Winter."

He dropped me like a sack of bricks. _Hey, at least treat me like the team leader and a lady, you know! _and stared impassively. "So? How?"

I grinned, remembering all of Wolf-dage's strategy planning. "I just need to destroy the city gem and become Lord of Diamond Dragon City."

_Why is he banging his head against a wall? It's a good idea- hey, you're offending me now, Fai._

* * *

**Exile: Uh... so... hi...? DON'T KILL ME PLEASE IF YOU NEED TO KILL SOMEONE KILL MY AP BIO TEACHER *screams***

**The next chapter should theoretically be out sooner than this one took. **

**One Thousand New Air: To me, Prince was like an essential part of the air of Second Life. Without him, many things crashed and spirits died. His effect on Second Life could not be repeated by even a thousand people. And Lan is back, new, as Zero.**

**Review? *dodges flaming tomatoes***


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